 The US Government’s Department of Health and Human Services has released a guide advising US businesses with overseas operations on how to prepare and implement pandemic business continuity.
In a public information website dedicated to awareness and advice regarding pandemic human and avian (“bird” flu) influenza, the US DHHS acknowledges that either of these events may occur in the future, and that businesses will play a key role in protecting employees’ health and safety as well as limiting the negative impact to the economy and society. It has provided a checklist, released earlier this month, specifically for those US businesses that have foreign operations in higher risk areas, to help them to:
- Plan their business continuity during and after a pandemic,
- Plan how they are going to manage the lives and welfare of their employees,
- Develop policies and guidelines to be implemented during a pandemic,
- Determine the resources needed,
- Create an emergency communications system,
- Work with external organizations and the community,
- Prepare for post-pandemic scenarios.
The checklist is described as a list of suggestions that the DHSS have designed as a starting point for developing a comprehensive plan. Although the stated intention is to advise those US businesses with overseas operations, there is little in the checklist, other than communicating with the local embassy or US Chamber of Commerce, that would not be equally applicable to any business in any country, and the new checklist is based on general advice to businesses originally produced in 2005 and modified last year.
At the beginning of January, the three main financial authorities in the UK, the Bank of England, the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority, released the executive summary of the Market Wide Exercise carried out last year to test the UK financial sector’s resilience to pandemic influenza.
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