Your business continuity plan needs to cover something else: a flu epidemic

Robert N. Charette, a risk-management consultant with Cutter Consortium, says flu pandemics come on a 30- or 40-year cycle and we're overdue. Recent headlines about the avian flu virus showing up in Turkey and elsewhere in Europe aren't comforting. Nor is the federal government's lack of preparedness (or Katrina response). Charette, in a recent e-mail newsletter, says most companies have ignored this issue in recent years, but he's seeing signs that a few -- especially those with overseas offices or partners -- are starting to take it seriously. We already know that you should be adding IT security disasters to your disaster recovery plan -- now you can add a devastating flu to your list! Charette asks: How will you operate your business if huge numbers of employees are sick at home and/or quarantined?

Some excerpts:

I have heard reports that some ... companies are now including flu pandemics as an item that needs monitoring on their enterprise risk management watch list. One reason is that Asian companies that are U.S. suppliers are stepping up their own plans to deal with a possible pandemic. For instance, many are installing monitoring devices to check their employees for signs of fever.

 

Several companies I am familiar with, especially those with overseas operations or dependent on overseas suppliers, are also starting to create BCM plans to deal with such a pandemic.

 

A primary governmental response to a pandemic will likely be the mandatory quarantine of those suspected of being infected....

[B]usinesses need to understand that if a pandemic strikes in their area or in their suppliers' country, their workers or their families are likely to be sent and kept at home. Even if a quarantine does not happen, how is a business to operate if a large proportion of its workers are laid up at home sick?