Extension offers course on pandemic preparedness for businesses

Extension offers course on pandemic preparedness for businesses

University Park, Pa. -- Imagine you're a business owner, and one day a third of your employees can't show up for work because they are sick or caring for ill family members. How are you going to stay in operation and ensure the continuity of your business?

That's one of the questions businesses need to consider as the current H1N1 influenza pandemic continues to sweep across the country. To help small- and medium-sized businesses survive a pandemic, Penn State Cooperative Extension, in conjunction with extension educators throughout the country and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has developed a course that offers resources and decision-making tools.

Pandemic Preparedness for Business is available at no cost through the Extension Disaster Education Network, or EDEN, a network of extension educators from across the United States. The course helps business owners develop a basic understanding of pandemic preparedness and the importance of business planning, emphasizing the value of communicating regularly with employees before, during and after a pandemic.

"The typical business 'continuity of operation' plan does not take into consideration the significance of what might happen to businesses, communities and families in a pandemic situation," explained David Filson, chair of EDEN and Penn State Cooperative Extension's state program leader for emergency readiness, rural health and safety. "This course helps business owners to anticipate what might happen -- worldwide, within the United States, within a state, within a community -- in the event of a pandemic."

While all online materials, including forms, scripts and PowerPoint slides, are in the public domain, Filson recommends that a trained extension educator present the training in a group session or via webinar. "We find that group interaction is helpful," he said. "In a group setting, you'll have people from different businesses share ideas. And that enhances the learning."

When Filson presents the pandemic-preparedness training, he gets the group's attention by citing a statistic: "Typically there will be about 50 people in the room, and I'll say, 'Okay, 12 of you are gone. We've just been hit by a major pandemic, and you guys are no longer in business.' That gets them thinking, to imagine a quarter of their employees not showing up for work tomorrow. Could they stay in operation? Then I read them a statistic from the Institute of Business and Safety indicating that about 25 percent of businesses that go through a major disaster never recover. That's a pretty high percentage."

As part of the training, business owners answer a series of online questions about how they run their business.

"Each answer will be specific to each individual business," he said. "If they walk through the course, look at the sample business continuity plan, and fill in the answers, they will be well on their way to having a pandemic plan. But if they don't have an answer or have difficulty answering a question, that's an area they may need to address."

Pandemic Preparedness outlines three steps. First, create a plan, second, communicate the plan, and third, do whatever is needed to protect your assets.

"We emphasize the importance of creating a plan ahead of time, so that if you're faced with a pandemic, you're not scrambling around trying to figure out what to do," said Filson. "Then you need to communicate that plan to everyone who would be affected."

One important element of a business continuity plan is prioritization -- determining which tasks could be let go for a while and which are essential.

"Businesses should prioritize functions both within and outside their operation," Filson said. "What absolutely has to be done so your product or service can go out the door and you stay in operation? And then there are the external factors. For example, if you're relying on someone else to bring in raw materials or to make deliveries, you need to go to those people and make sure they'll also be able to operate in the event of a pandemic. Planning goes beyond the footprint of an individual business."

Another significant planning element is cross-training employees so that if an employee is out sick, at least one other person knows how to perform that employee's critical duties.

"Along with that we recommend businesses set up a decision tree," Filson said. "What if the person who needs to authorize the checks, who needs to review something for quality assurance, who needs to sign off on an important form, is not available? Who is authorized to step in and make those decisions?"

If an employee is unable to come into work because he or she is ill, or has an ill child, telecommuting also should be considered as an option.

"Employees should be encouraged to evaluate their jobs and consider what it would take to work from home," Filson said. "This could be a workable option, especially for an employee who is not ill but is caring for an ill child at home."

"Through this training, we're trying to do two things," Filson continued. "Our primary concern -- as a society, as employers, as employees -- is the health, safety and welfare of individuals. That's number one, and business is secondary. While our goal is to maintain continuity in business operations as much as possible, above all, we want to ensure the safety of individuals, both those who are ill and those who are healthy and want to stay that way."

For more information or to schedule a pandemic-preparedness training session, contact Filson at 814-863-6424 or by e-mail at dfilson@psu.edu.

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