Corporate Pandemic Planning
Contact Health Services Australia Group and the Travel Doctor to assist your organisation develop a corporate pandemic plan. Mr Brock Cambourne – 07 3307 9471 or Dr Tony Gherardin – 03 9224 8352
- Why have a Pandemic Plan?
- Business Continuity Planning
- Defining Essential Business Elements
- Duty of Care for Staff
- Staff who Travel
- Staff who Work at Home
- Psychological Issues
- Useful Checklists
Staff who work at home
Another important aspect for consideration will be the staff who work at home, and how they interact with the company. It is possible that an increased emphasis on staff working at home will be a key strategy in overcoming difficulties presenting in any pandemic peak.
Staff should be vaccinated against influenza, as part of a company-wide strategy.
It will be important to consider ensuring that staff designated to work at home have appropriate work environments, with the usual standard of ergonomic assessment and safety considerations. Satisfactory communications is obviously important.
Related Information
- All staff should be aware of the basic hygiene techniques and principles for protection against respiratory disease. For hygiene tips go to our Fact Sheet section.
- During a pandemic there will be a very important pool of workers who contract the disease but survive and become immune. Keeping a database of these individuals would make staffing front-line public areas easier.
- Pandemics usually spread to all parts of the globe within less than a year and affect more than a quarter of the total population; they also tend to recur in second and sometimes third waves.
- If 25% of Australians were affected by an influenza pandemic and there was no vaccine or treatment available, 13,000 to 44,000 deaths and 57,900 to 148,000 hospitalisations could occur over a 6 to 8 week period.
