Pandemic Planning

Mon, 17 Mar 08

Sir John Harvey-Jones once commented:

“Planning is an unnatural process. It is much more fun to DO something. The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.”

So often today manning levels are thin, support staff are fewer and time is stretched. So how can we get the time to plan for urgent matters let alone issues on some far horizon?

Planning for the effects on your business of a pandemic, such as Bird Flu, is not going to be urgent until it really is – which hopefully will be never. However, a plan based on hoping it doesn’t happen is going to be of little use if it does.

Thankfully, the Queensland government has been doing the work for us.

The effects of a pandemic would be immense – increased absenteeism, quarantine orders, closure of schools and the effect on parents and their ability to go to work, delays in supply of goods and materials, inability of suppliers to meet commitments, stringent border controls, enforced social distancing and the list goes on. And this would not be the case for a few days – the experts predict that if we experience a pandemic it would go in waves for months.

The effects on Transport & Logistics, which involves so many people interacting each day, would be nothing short of complete upheaval. At just one level, if people avoided public transport in large numbers and drove to work, the road system would be overburdened to a degree that freight movements would be slowed enormously.

All businesses should have a Business Continuity Plan in the case of catastrophe and planning for the effects of a pandemic should form part of that plan.

So, what can you do?

The first step is to familiarise yourself with the subject, its possible effects and the steps you can take now and at the time of any outbreak.

Secondly, you need to incorporate pandemic planning into your existing Business Continuity Planning.

We have reproduced information below – and attached a number of Fact Sheets – from Queensland Transport’s Transport Security Unit. We urge you to take the time to read through this and to start thinking about how to build this into your business planning.

Scientists and health experts continue to warn about the threat of a human influenza pandemic. Have you thought how it could affect your business? How would your business function if half your staff did not turn up to work for a week or longer? What if the influenza pandemic affected not only your business, but all of your suppliers and customers as well?

While nobody can predict when an influenza pandemic might occur, planning ahead could minimise the impact of a pandemic on your business, help protect your staff, and contribute to the local and national recovery following the event.

The Queensland Government encourages all businesses to be prepared, particularly those that deliver key services such as those found in the transport and freight sector. A pandemic planning kit has been developed that encourages businesses to understand the risk, plan to maintain essential services, and protect their staff.

These resources are available below.

• Fact Sheet 1 - Guide.pdf

• Fact Sheet 2 - Checklist.pdf

• Fact Sheet 3 - Resources guide.pdf

• Fact Sheet 4 - Glossary.pdf

• Fact Sheet 5 - BCP.pdf

• action_plan.pdf

• business_continuity_plan.pdf

Additional information relating to influenza pandemic planning is also available from Queensland Health

All businesses are encouraged to make pandemic planning part of their ongoing business continuity planning.