When last we spoke, we were discussing the 10 objectives of business continuity planning for the threat of pandemic influenza or, for that matter, any other infectious disease. The first five objectives:

• Getting organized;
• Assessing risks;
• Protecting workers' health;
• Adjusting employment policies; and
• Planning to keep the business running.

Let's pick up where we left off with a look at objectives 6 through 10.

OBJECTIVE 6: PREPARING FOR SUPPLY AND SERVICE DISRUPTIONS

Continuity planning needs to focus not just on your own business but that of your vital suppliers. The guidelines from the Ministry of Health of British Columbia, the best example of official guidance on pandemic influenza business continuity planning in North America (at least in my humble opinion), recommend that you:

Step 1: List all outside suppliers of critical goods, materials and services to your organization.

Step 2: Identify alternative sources for those goods and services and/or start building (or adding to existing) stockpiles and reserves.

Step 3: Make sure your business has access to contingency funds so it can meet payroll, pay its contractors and meet other critical financial obligations.

OBJECTIVE 7: PREPARING FOR ABSENCES

If there is a pandemic, the most direct effect on employers will likely be in the form of absenteeism. To prepare:

Step 1: Determine the minimum staff you need to maintain critical business functions.

Step 2: Identify the credentials workers need to fill those functions, for example, license to operate heavy machinery.

Step 3: Start looking for sources of labor to meet those needs. Consider both internal, such as bringing back retirees or retraining existing workers, and external sources.

Step 4: Make sure you have an infrastructure to train and support replacement workers.

OBJECTIVE 8: ESTABLISHING LINES OF COMMUNICATION WITH WORKERS

Develop the means to communicate with your workforce in case of a pandemic. Make sure you have a system for briefing workers about developments, both public and within your workplace. You also need to establish a method for remaining in contact with workers who fall ill or take absences to care for others.

OBJECTIVE 9: ESTABLISHING LINES OF COMMUNICATION WITH OUTSIDE BUSINESS RELATIONS

During an influenza outbreak, each business will need to maintain communication with certain key customers, partners, suppliers and other business relations. Make sure you know who those key relations are to your own business and establish secure means of communicating with them.

OBJECTIVE 10: PREPARING A PANDEMIC INFLUENZA MANAGEMENT PLAN

The final step is to institutionalize all of your preparedness efforts in a written plan:

Step 1: The planning team should prepare a draft plan documenting your planning efforts and listing the results of all planning decisions undertaken in pursuit of Objectives 1 through 9.

Step 2: Give the draft to senior managers, business unit leaders and the safety committee or workers' representative for internal review.

Step 3: Give the draft to key suppliers, customers, partners and local government and health officials for external review.

Step 4: Adopt appropriate changes in response to each review.

Step 5: Acquaint workers and management with the details of the plan once it's been approved.

Step 6: Try out a few scenarios or drills to test the plan and adjust it to correct for any weaknesses revealed.

Conclusion

Is the risk of pandemic influenza overblown? Some say yes; some say no. And trying to determine who's right is way beyond the scope of my expertise.

But here's something I can tell you. The process of protecting your workforce and business for an influenza outbreak is a valuable one regardless of what actually happens with pandemic influenza. Bird flu might turn out to be a false alarm, another Y2K. But the benefits of planning transcend the threat of avian influenza. The exercise is really about preparing for a broader health- or safety-related threat, natural or man-made. Thus, to the extent it has mobilized companies to take action, the risk of avian influenza might prove to be a blessing in disguise.

HEROES OF SAFETY

Garrett A. Morgan...

Garrett A. Morgan (1877 - 1963)

By Glenn Demby

Garrett A. Morgan is not a household name. But his accomplishments directly affect the lives of every single person who has ever ridden in a car or walked down a busy street. If you drove to work this morning you probably had at least one encounter with the legacy of Garret A. Morgan. And you will again when you drive home this evening.

You see, Garrett A. Morgan invented the traffic signal. The African-American Morgan was born in Kentucky in 1877. His parents were slaves. His formal education stopped at elementary school. But he was smart and ambitious. When his family moved to Ohio in 1895, Morgan hired a tutor. He started tinkering with mechanical devices and got a job fixing sewing machines. By 1907, he had opened his own repair shop. In 1920, he started his own newspaper, the Cleveland Call, and got rich.

...And his famous invention.

One of the things Morgan did with his money was to buy what in those days was a luxury: an automobile. Legend has it that Morgan got the inspiration to invent the traffic signal while driving down the streets of Cleveland. What we do know for sure is that traffic back then was unregulated and accidents frequent. We also know that Morgan received a U.S. patent to create a traffic signal device in 1923.

The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole that featured three positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position halting traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets safely. The device, which was hand-cranked, was first used in Cleveland in 1924. New York City started deploying the device in 1930. Soon the Morgan invention was a fixture in all major U.S. cities. It remained in use for decades before being replaced by the automatic red, yellow and green light system of today.

Morgan invented many other safety devices throughout his life including, most famously, the Morgan Hood - forerunner of the modern gas mask. He died in 1963 at the age of 86.

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