According to Mittal, and Vikas (330), a business continuity plan is an outline that an enterprise develops about the core activities to undertake after an emergency or disastrous event happen to the organization. Let us take for instance when a company is faced with fire outbreak, the plan that it would write down to follow after the incident is a business continuity plan. It involves planning for the essential goods or services that the company can continue to offer for the market. It also sets up the departments that need to be operational as the company recovers towards the normal business operation (Coker, and Sandra 887). This paper seeks to identify and describe the effects of a pandemic on smooth business operations of the firm. To obtain these features, the paper uses literature material, policies, case studies, and journal. The case discussed covers the case of infectious diseases that is the pandemic flu. An outbreak of pandemic flu in the work setting will affect all the operations of the business hence there is a need for the management to come in and form a business continuity plan that would guide the business process after the outbreak of the flu in the company.
In an event of an outbreak of pandemic flu in our manufacturing plant, we expect many workers to report to work. There will be increased absenteeism of many employees thus the standard operation of the production process will be at a standstill (Lee, and Mark 452). Developing a business continuity plan, in this case, we need to focus on the labor and most importantly to seek on how we can stop the fast spreading of the pandemic. Closing operation of the business by order from the area health worker is one of the measures that can bar further infections. Apart from closing the plant, the transportation in the area need to be restricted to avoid transferring the infection to other regions (Roth 4). Public gathering can also spread the flu to those not yet infected. Thus, canceling of all public meeting is critical in stopping the spread. In the event of the flu outbreak, many employees will not report to work because they might be infected, they may sacrifice work for a volunteer activity to help those infected in the society. Others may attend to their children affected while others may take precautionary measures to remain at home to avoid infections (Tan and Takakuwa, 19).
The key steps and measures that I recommend on precautions
Precautions are given the entire society whether the flu has infected one or not. Some of the precautions that I would offer include avoiding close contact with the infected persons to avoid getting an infection. Those who are sick need to take care of the welfare of those who are not infected with the flu (Kudo et al. 465). They need to keep a distance from those who are not infected so that they do not spread the disease to the entire society. This precaution measure is referred to as isolation strategy. The other precaution is staying indoors that is if it is possible, the infected people should remain at home to avoid spreading the flu to the public when they interact at work or school. Keeping high standards of cleanliness and hygiene is vital in making avoiding more infections in a public setting.
Those who are infected by the flu should sneeze with their mouth and nose closed so that we can terminate spread the flu to others. Infectious diseases like flu are spread through the air hence keeping the flu for one can help stop further spreading and infections (Tan and Takakuwa, 21). Washing hands will help prevent disease spread since the pathogen that may be in the hands of the infected person would be washed away. Thus even if the person greets other people, there would be minimal infections. World Health Organization (89-90) explains the benefits of health habits of disinfecting frequently touched surfaces at the workplace, home, and school or any public setting place. This is a healthy living because the disinfections would kill germs.
During the period of infection, the precaution that I can recommend to be applied during this time is that the population need a regular inspection to isolate any person who is seen to display the signs and symptoms of the disease (State Services Commission 5). This is a precautionary measure in that the early diagnosis helps at the beginning of prevention. It also keeps the health department and the government alert that there is an outbreak of flu. Identification at early stages helps at the beginning of measures hence very few people would be affected. Vaccination could be administered to the entire population to keep their immune system ready for the pre-seen infection.
I would recommend that those who are infected by the flu not to come to public so that the disease does not affect everyone in the society. Community health workers should undertake quarantine where they would separate the infected and keep them in a closed place away from the other healthy population (Yoshida, and Robert 4). The isolation quickly controls the outbreak because any new case reported would be easy to manage. This method is effective if the flu infection is identified at the early stages where only a few individual is already infected, and before the situation becomes severe, they are taken away from the rest of the population for treatment.
Administrative strategies can help control the spread since the government can order health personnel on what actions to take to rescue its people. The government also formulates policies that the citizens would obey with immediate effect avoiding further spread (Coker, and Sandra 888). The government through the ministry of health takes care plays a critical role in ensuring the prevailing health conditions of her population is conducive at all times. The government has officially formulated guidelines and avails the necessary resources like the staff and the medicines that are used to cure infections. The ordering of cohort is an exceptional measure where those who are severely infected by the flu are locked in one unit for intensive care (Snedaker 17).
Upon taking the precautions, the spread of the disease, is a bit controlled hence the management team of the company needs to come up with an alternate workforce that would help the company to continue with normal operations (Rebmann, Terri, and Judith 346). Since the new employees are not used to the system, it would hard to reach the target that the permanent employees used to achieve. Proper planning of the company resources is paramount because if not well managed, the company may start to operate at a loss. Rebmann, Terri, and Judith (348) further explained that temporary workforce would help the business to continue at least with minimal production so that the flue infection does not lead to complete closure of the enterprise operation.
If the outbreak is severe and affects the company to a point where the operation is impossible due to the limited labor force, the management can apply supply stockpiling (Kudo et al. 462). This is where they collect the raw material for the production process and storing them in a safe place so that they use them in the future after full control of the situation. This can only apply at the extremes because the one-hour closure of a manufacturing plant costs million dollars of losses. Identifying employees in the company who have the potential of taking the position of others in the occurrence of an emergency is helpful. It is the enable the company to have a backup system in the labor force.
Recommendation on the company policy changes on issues affecting the business operation
Absenteeism. The company needs to incur extra cost in paying for the treatment of their employees. When the workers fail to report to work as a result of infection, it is good that the management intervenes to ensure they receive private treatment so that they get well soonest and report back to work (Lee, and Mark 450). Employees are valuable assets to the business. They are valuable resources that business success depends upon. Ensuring their fitness is the mandate of the human resource department, which seeks to improve the welfare of the employees. The policy that the company does not cater for the sickness or ill health of the employees needs to change so that they address the emergency and offer more cash so that those infected seek special medical attention and come back to work. The employer needs to provide express service for the workers for a quick recovery.
Teleworking. This refers to the work arrangement where the employer allows the staff to operate from home. It involves an employee working from home that is they do not need to commute to work. Instead, through home computers, telephones, and personal computers the employee is connected to other colleagues who are in workplace premises (Yoshida, and Robert 2). Allowing employees to work from home saves time that they spend traveling to work. It saves on the transport allowance every day the employee drive to work. Deducting the allowances that are offered as transport allowance from the salary of teleworkers saves company revenues (State Services Commission 15-17). Teleworking has the advantage of allowing the employee to balance between family life and work life. With such a balance, there is increased performance since the employee is not feeling the job has taken all the time and denied him or her right to interact with family members.
Flex hours. Giving the employees the freedom to have a flexible work schedule offers the company more advantages. The policy of the company currently does not provide such employment contract. With the aim of improving performance and continuing business operation even in the event of disaster outbreak, allowing employees to work on flexible schedule could improve outcome (Roth 7). Given more freedom at a workplace where you can attend to other activities, motivates employees hence they are committed to offering the best for the company.
Works cited
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