BRAXXON News - Influenza Pandemic - A Business Continuity Issue?
“Most experts believe that it is not a question of whether there will be another severe influenza pandemic but when” – report by the Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health
The Financial Services Authority is asking Financial Services Organisations to prepare continuity plans to support continuing operation with significant numbers of staff being affected by the pandemic. In addition the FSA is asking insurance companies about their financial ability to withstand claims on life insurance policies if Britain were hit by a bird flu pandemic months.
Considerable attention has been focused on the consequences of an influenza pandemic. The Chief Medical Officer has stated that a pandemic is certain to occur; only the timing remains in doubt.
The question of what this would mean in practice was recently addressed by the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
Dr Klaus Stohr, of the World Health Organisation, told the committee even a mild pandemic would affect 25-30% of the world's population, killing two to seven million and leaving 28 million needing hospital treatment. He also said a more severe outbreak could even be as bad as the Spanish flu of 1918.
The UK Government’s pandemic planning assumes that an influenza pandemic might consist of one or more waves, perhaps weeks or months apart, the first lasting up to 17 weeks. For planning purposes, the most likely scenario is a cumulative attack rate affecting 25% of the total population over the entire pandemic period. At it’s peak 50% of the population may be affected. A suitable vaccine is unlikely to be available at the start of a pandemic and the development of one could take 4-6 months
In the event of a Pandemic the Government has powers to;
- Medically detain people in hospital
- Create a criminal offence where people expose others to the risk of infection
- Prohibit travel and assembly
A pandemic will present a number of real and serious problems to businesses;
- Disruption to public utilities & transport infrastructure
- Interruption to the supply chain
- Restrictions applied to travel
- Significant absentee rates due to illness and caring for sick family members
Continuity Central recently conducted a Pandemic survey which concluded that whilst 83% of respondents considered it important that pandemic issues are covered by Business Continuity plans only 28% had already considered the issue in their Continuity plans.
To prepare for the potential impact of a pandemic, careful consideration needs to be given to an organisation’s Business Continuity and Crisis Management plans. BC planning is often deterministic and based around disruption to physical infrastructure, planning rarely considers long-term staff absenteeism of 25% or greater.
There are a number of key planning steps that should be considered.
- Define responsibility within an organisation for pandemic planning and tracking the development of potential threats.
- Develop an education plan for the organisation so that all staff are aware of the consequences of a pandemic and the steps taken by the organisation to prepare for it.
- Consider human resiliency within an organisation and determine where “key man” risks exist. Existing Business Impact Analysis needs to be revisited in this light.
- Where organisations have multiple sites consider how staff are organised across sites to disperse key individuals.
- Succession planning is important to any BC plan, this would be essential managing the effect of an influenza pandemic.
- Is invocation of a DR site a solution allowing staff to work in a quarantined environment or to overcome transportation disruption? Will existing DR contracts allow invocation under these circumstances?
- It may be possible to support a company’s business by remote working. Is an appropriate technology infrastructure in place to support this? Appropriate testing is essential to validate this as a workable solution.
- Transportation alternatives need to be considered.
- Facilities need to be assessed to determine whether “clean” operating environments can be supported, for example the operation and filtration of air conditioning systems
- Some authorities recommend the acquisition of anti-viral drugs. This needs careful consideration both in terms of the ethical issues and the practical issues of administration and distribution
Pandemic influenza raises many uncomfortable issues but careful planning and education will allow a company and its staff to understand the likely effect of pandemic flu and be prepared to mange it effectively.