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10 Questions for Pandemic Planning

Business risk consultancy Control Risks identifies ten questions organizations can use to determine their level of preparedness in the event of a pandemic emergency

By Joan Goodchild, Senior Editor

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7. Are key strategies for remote connectivity of workers backed up by actual IT capabilities in terms of VPN bandwidth and hardware availability?
"The go-to solution for many companies during a pandemic is simply to have employees work from home,"said Kaye.

However, more often than not, we have found along the line actual IT limitations to this strategy, he noted. You need to be realistic and ask whether your existing IT infrastructure can support your entire workforce working from home at once. Business plans need to take into account how the IT systems work.

8. Has the firm prepared guidance for expatriate employees and travelers? Does the firm have the ability to re-create travel patterns for employees, to support investigation into risk exposure?
This goes back to ensuring that your sources of information are reliable and establishing your guiding principles, according to Control Risks. The need for travel policies is clear, but you have to determine when or even if you will restrict all non-essential travel for employees. When considering expatriate employees, you must decide what care you will offer them and at what point will remove them from their current location.

"The issue of re-creating travel patterns was a lesson learned from SARS," noted Kaye. "Specific points of exposure that were identified, allowing us to assess whether an employee could have been exposed based on if they had been at one of these points. If you have the ability to retain employees travel history and re-create their travel pattern, you have the potential to pinpoint their point of exposure. "

9. Has the firm discussed its pandemic preparedness efforts with key vendors, suppliers and other business partners?
"Even the strongest in-house pandemic preparedness program can be rendered worthless if the company has a dependence on a third-party that is compromised," said Kaye. "Of course, this rings true not only for manufacturers, but also for professional services providers. Companies with an outsourced IT call centers or outsourced legal support, for example, could be left without critical business functions if their outsourced operations are compromised. "

10. What is the firm's position on the procurement and stockpiling of both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical protective measures? If there is a formal program, who is responsible and are all key provisions up to date?
"Anti-viral treatments are receiving so much attention right now that it is almost tempting to mistake them for a pandemic preparedness program," said Kaye. "I can not stress enough that they are not one in the same."