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A Swine Flu (H1N1) Business Continuity Planning Guide

Concerned about the coming flu season and the impact H1N1 will have on the workforce? Here's a fear-free roundup of articles, columns and podcasts to help you keep improving your preparedness plan.

By Bill Brenner, Senior Editor

September 14, 2009 —

With flu season fast approaching in the Western Hemisphere, medical and government officials are bracing for what is expected to be a nasty wave of sickness, panic and workflow disruptions throughout the public and private sector. The reason for this year's extra sense of urgency is H1N1, commonly known as Swine Flu.

The World Health Organization has declared it a pandemic strain, and though cases have mostly been mild, concern abounds that a nastier strain of virus will emerge this fall and winter, leading to the scenarios described above. Among those who are deep in planning for what may come is Richard Thomas, director of education at InfraGard and a member of the Austin, Texas Community Emergency Response Team.

"We have had a number of briefings from the Texas Department of State Health Services on the topic and the main preventative measure is to stay healthy," he said. To keep people healthy, he said, the key is to plaster every office and school building with guidelines written and spoken on the basics: Getting plenty of sleep to keep the immune system sturdy, getting the annual flu vaccine and staying home if sick so as not to infect others.

"It is a difficult task to manage public fear," he added. "The general feeling I get from our health officials is that they do not consider this a major threat under general conditions. However, it is a balancing act between not showing enough concern that people become lax about preventative measures, and showing too much concern, which can cause hysteria. I think they have it well in hand."

CSOonline has produced a number of articles, podcasts and columns to help organizations prepare. Here they are -- assembled in one helpful package:

NEWS ARTICLES

OPINION AND PERSPECTIVE

PODCAST