The sudden spread of Coronavirus means businesses could temporarily close and employees may be asked to work from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We want to reassure you and your customers that our communication systems will be running as normal if this scenario were to arise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can quickly assist in the deployment of home working solutions for your employees and in the majority of cases your employees will be able to take their handset home and plug it into their home network and carry on working if you are using one of our hosted IPPBXs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a fast moving situation and no one is sure what will happen next. We will do all we can to assist you as we have in the past for our customers, For example during the Ash cloud in 2010 where we had customers with key employees ‘stranded’ in overseas locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this time you the opportunity to get plans in place in a orderly and timely manner, Below is some key actions that you plan can be checked against, Its not everything but it is a start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The increase in public awareness of the emerging situation in respect of the COVID-19 has been accompanied by a general rise in public health concerns and alarmist headlines; many offering irresponsible assessments of the imminent nature of a crisis. Northcott Global Solutions and Fullerton Health contend that, rather than falling victim to ill-informed panic, clients currently have an opportunity to devise and put in place planning strategies that will help them minimise the potential impact to their staff and operations.
As widely reported COVID-19 is a virus that mutated, enabling human-to-human transmission to occur. Intra-country and inter-county spread are likely to occur quickly. Similarities have been made to the SARS outbreak in 2003 although current mortality trends are lower. At the time of the preparation of this brief there are no planning estimates regarding infectivity and there is anecdotal reporting of 2% mortality of those infected.
The experience from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) gives some insight into what might be expected if the Coronavirus develops into a pandemic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 School and day care centres were closed, or strict health protocols enforced;
\n\u2013 Staff absenteeism was in excess of 30% (Comment: for companies that have juniors (e.g. supermarkets) in their workforce it can be assumed that absenteeism will be even greater);
\n\u2013 An increased demand on shopping centres;
\n\u2013 Distribution centres and the organisations servicing them were assessed as being the most critical parts of the infrastructure; and
\n\u2013 Companies with an integrated business continuity framework were more able to adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initial BCP Planning Actions Required that you may wish to consider<\/strong>
\u2013 Develop\/consolidate existing material and deploy training\/guidance for<\/strong>:
\u2013 General hygiene including hand cleansing and respiratory etiquette,
\u2013 Sanitation and disinfection protocols,
\u2013 What to do if you or a staff member develop respiratory and fever like symptoms.
\u2013 What to do if your family members develop fever and flu like symptoms.
\u2013 Access restrictions to offices and the conduct of meetings in the event a pandemic occurs,
\u2013 Food handling and preparation, and
\u2013 What families can do to be prepared.
\u2013 Identify core activities <\/strong>and how they may be sustained for 4 \u2013 12 weeks whilst in a pandemic cycle (based on historical data assume absenteeism could be as high as 30%).
\u2013 Identify the critical dependencies<\/strong> on third parties and review their preparation.
\u2013 Identify how to re-organise workplaces<\/strong> to minimise human to human spread
\u2013 Utilise the current crisis management team<\/strong> and emergency management teams\u2019 structure for overseeing the response to a pandemic. Rehearse the response to a WHO Phase 6 scenario<\/a><\/strong>.
\u2013 Review current business continuity processes including:
\u2013 Crisis plans, disaster recovery, denial of access, loss of production;
\u2013 Alternative management options (virtual, offshore, maintaining a reserve); and
\u2013 Travel policy.<\/strong> Monitor travel advisories and issued by FHA-A, WHO and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC).
\u2013 Develop a monitoring strategy<\/strong> and identify the triggers for activation of management contingencies focused on the scaling back or cessation of operations. Be prepared to go through some false alarms.
\u2013 Review third party relationships<\/strong> and assess their contingencies with essential contractors and suppliers.
\u2013 Establish a staff communications strategy<\/strong> that is clear, with the aim being to have a \u201ctrusted, reliable and timely communication program in place\u201d should there be a change to WHO alert levels.
\u2013 Plan for disruptions<\/strong> to critical services and identify the potential points of failure.
\u2013 Identify the HR responses to the reaction to high levels of absenteeism e.g. provision for increases in statutory provisions for sick or carer\u2019s leave.
\u2013 Consider establishing a supply of:<\/strong>
\u2013 Protective masks or respirators;
\u2013 Disposable gloves;
\u2013 Hand sanitiser; and
\u2013 Alcohol surface wipes.
\u2013 People \u2013 categorise them into three broad areas:<\/strong>
\u2013 Essential \u2013 required at office (e.g. IT maintainers, treasury);
\u2013 Essential \u2013 can work remotely (connectivity required);
\u2013 Non-essential \u2013 can be stood down (for up to two weeks) if required; and
\u2013 Assessment should include coverage, single points of failure, decision-making capability and autonomy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n