Employers should be prepared for a pandemic flu because they would play an important role in the nation's response and would face several challenges if a full-blown pandemic strikes the United States, according to two safety and health experts who led a recent BLR audio conference.
John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, started the presentation by describing the differences among seasonal flu, avian flu, and pandemic flu.
He said seasonal flu is a respiratory illness that can be transmitted from person to person. While most people have some immunity to seasonal flu, 30,000 to 40,000 people die each year from seasonal flu or pneumonia that arises from it, he said.
Avian flu occurs naturally in birds and can be transmitted from birds to humans. The current strain of avian flu is the H5N1 virus. Among humans, there is no immunity and the fatality rate for avian flu is 50 percent of diagnosed cases. So far, the avian flu cannot be easily transmitted from human to human. However, health officials are concerned that the H5N1 virus could mutate and become easily transmitted among humans. At this point, there is no vaccine for avian flu.
A pandemic flu is a human outbreak of a global scale, and it spreads easily among humans. There is no pandemic flu currently.
Howard said the flu virus is primarily spread among humans by airborne droplets and contact with a contaminated object like a doorknob or telephone.
W. Smith Chandler, an occupational medicine physician with Commonwealth Occupational Safety and Health Associates in Richmond, Virginia , said employers preparing for a possible pandemic flu should develop and provide frequent and on-going training. He suggested that training subjects include:
- The science of the virus.
- Home stockpiling of supplies.
- Understanding the World Health Organization's alert level. The current WHO alert level is 3 (no or very limited human-to-human transmission), on a scale of 1 to 6. Chandler said he will start stockpiling supplies at home when the alert level reaches 4 (evidence of increased human-to-human transmission).
- How employees can protect themselves away from work
- How employees can protect themselves at work.
Chandler said that it is important for employers to reassure employees that they have taken the steps to ensure that employees are safe at work. He offered several steps employers could take to prevent the spread of pandemic flu in the workplace, such as:
- Social distancing (that is, staying away from other people in the workplace). Chandler recommends that at least six feet of separation be maintained among employees. The federal government recommends at least 3 feet.
- Social isolation (that is, staying at home). Chandler said social isolation is more effective than social distancing.
- Promote thorough and correct hand washing. He said employers may have to require hand washing.
- Purchasing alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
- Decontaminate surfaces with commercial disinfectants that kill other viruses.
Howard noted additional steps some companies would take during a pandemic: thermal scanning (which airports have used to detect fevers), use of antiviral agent Tamiflu (which may work as a treatment if taken early enough), and restrictions on travel.
In developing a preparedness plan, employers should ask key departments, including maintenance, the CFO, HR, and safety and health, to identify the challenges a pandemic would create and come up with ways to address those issues, Chandler said.
A pandemic, for example, could create an increased burden on the electronic infrastructure in the United States because a lot more people would be working from home. How would your company address connectivity issues?
From an HR perspective, employers should consider how they will handle staffing shortages, lower productivity, and the possibility that employees may run out of paid leave. Chandler said employers should be flexible. Chandler said that if employers can afford it, they should give employees more paid leave temporarily during a pandemic.
Howard added that companies should also think about inventory challenges that they may face during a pandemic, especially businesses that rely on just-in-time-inventory systems.
Both Howard and Chandler recommended that employers and individuals take advantage of the federal government's pandemic flu resources, which you can find in the Pandemic Planning Resource Center on HR.BLR.com.
You can purchase a recording of the Avian Flu audio conference on CD here.