August 2006
Fail to Plan . . . Plan to Fail
Pandemic Preparedness Seminar
A human pandemic influenza outbreak is expected to cause 30 to 40 percent of the work force to be ill or away from work tending to sick family members. For many employers, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will grant the employee the right to be off work, even if they are perfectly healthy. A pandemic may come and go in waves, each of which can last for six to eight weeks. Does your business rely upon 'just-in-time' delivery of essential parts and supplies? Is your business the supplier with customers that rely upon you as a part of their own 'just-in-time' inventory system? How will your business handle a disruption of the supply chain - either receiving or sending - because at any one time half of America's truck drivers and shippers are incapacitated due to illness? Can your business continue to operate under these conditions? If you have 7 employees could you continue to fulfill your business needs and obligations with 2-3 missing? What about larger organizations with 1,000 employees, could you survive with 300 to 400 employees out sick? How do you prepare for such a loss? What kind of impact would it have on the future of your business?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some sort of pan-flu, is overdue. Historically we get three pandemics in a century. Last century, the first pandemic occurred in 1918-19 resulting in 675,000+ deaths in the US and 50,000,000+ worldwide. The second occurred in 1957-58 resulting in 70,000+ deaths in the US and 1-2,000,000+ worldwide and the third pandemic occurred in 1968-69 resulting in 34,000+ in the US and 700,000+ worldwide.
Although it is difficult to predict exactly when the next influenza pandemic will occur or how severe it will be, we all agree it's a matter of when, not if, that it is going to happen. That is why we encourage our members to become informed, get involved, and get prepared! The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have developed a Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist to help address some of these issues. It identifies important, specific activities businesses can do now to prepare, and many items on this checklist that will help you in other emergencies. Even though this checklist is geared to large businesses, smaller businesses, which will also be hurt, can also benefit from the knowledge and will certainly be considerably ahead knowing what can be done to protect themselves too.
Be responsible for your own destiny by attending the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce seminar for more information. This seminar will be given by Sherrie Daniel, Marshall County Public Health Coordinator and Clyde Avery, Marshall County Emergency Management Agency on Thursday, August 24, 2006, at 1:00 PM at the Plymouth Public Library, 201 N. Center Street, Plymouth, in the Laramore Rooms. |
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