Look Back and Plan Ahead

Recently, I wrote about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic sweeping the globe.  In another post, I discussed the way the virus has consumed the attention and resources of the entire world over the last few weeks.  As I write this, most of the world is living in isolation, with many countries or states on lock-down, and with most social and business activity stalled to avoid the spread of disease.  Where countries have done a good job of “social distancing” (e.g., Japan, South Korea), the effect of the virus appears to be limited and perhaps waning in its impact.  Places where a response was perhaps belated (e.g., Italy, Iran, California, New York), illness and death continue to plague communities with a vengeance.

While a pandemic event is a corollary to the kind of natural hazards typically addressed in this blog (localized or regional events of fairly limited length), the fact that something like this Coronavirus can have such a widespread effect on so many people means that the typical approaches we might take to a natural event (e.g., an earthquake or hurricane), like hardening our facilities or relocating vulnerable populations, are of little effect.  In this case, the ability to continue the operation of business, industry and government (not to mention general living as a society) is of upmost importance.

A very recent article written for the Business Continuity Institute (UK) offers a great summary of how resilience professionals (typically led by governments, but with a significant cooperative effort among private corporations and organizations) might plan for an effective pandemic response.  The following lengthy excerpts are useful.

Countries working with the World Health Organization (WHO) can implement internationally coordinated pandemic policies and response strategies. These are usually focused on the first line of defense at the borders.  

Given the Coronavirus Outbreak has a significant head start, the priority is to delay the progress of pandemic infection through individual case identification, treatment and isolation.  If the pandemic escalates, governmental plans allow for more direct action often involving travel restrictions and forms of social distancing focused on places of mass gathering - such as education providers, cinemas, markets and sports events…

Governments can also ask organizations to play their part in the pandemic response, especially when it comes to communicating and implementing good practice advice around hygiene protocols, use of personal protective equipment and behavioral changes (e.g. not shaking hands in meetings). 

Within organizations, the Leadership Team supported by their Business Continuity Manager and other resilience professionals, can use a range of proactive strategies to support an effective pandemic response and limit the impact of an outbreak. Actions requiring attention include: 

1. Ensure management and team leaders are clear about the organization’s priority activities, people, skills and minimum staffing arrangements.

2. Prepare for expected employee absences e.g. knowing which employees are trained and can provide back-up for others who become ill (especially those with prioritized roles). 

3. Modify policies to give greater flexibility to normal working arrangements, such as:

·       provide (or expand) opportunities to work from home (taking into account network connectivity, security and bandwidth/performance requirements)

·       greater use of telephone or video conferences rather than face-to-face meetings

·       reduce the number of people in the workplace at any one time through flexible working hours or rosters 

·       provision for employees with children or unwell adults at home, or for employees who are reluctant to use public transport to get to work

·       reduce activities involving large groups of people (e.g. all-staff meetings, employee birthdays or other social events). 

Such policies should consider administrative, legislative (OH&S) and workplace relations requirements and procedures as well as psychological safety and morale. 

4. Establish welfare policies for employees seem to display relevant symptoms, have been caring for someone with the virus, or who have returned from travel in or through a known infection zone. Such policies might include:

·       protocols for those whose health is ‘in-question’ who want to come to work.

·       return to work protocols for those who have had the virus and have recovered.

·       presenteeism – how to deal with employees who should be at home but insist on coming to work 

·       protocols for visitors and suppliers (e.g. the contractor who refills the water cooler, or cleaners who are present out of hours).

·       the means of monitoring / enforcing these practices within the workplace
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5. Reinforce internal peer support or other welfare mechanisms (counselling) to assist employees with health concerns.

6. Implement a clear, continuing communications strategy across the organization so that all relevant stakeholders (not just employees) are aware of pandemic policies and action plans.  Use FAQs to streamline the feedback process.

7. Ensure the workplace has adequate supplies of cleaning and hygiene products in accessible and visible locations (keeping the workplace hygienic is a collective responsibility).

8. Confirm employees, customers and suppliers are aware of the organization’s pandemic continuity strategy, and alternate working arrangements, and they understand how they may be affected and involved. 

9. Assign someone in, or close to, the Leadership Team to monitor official information sources, advice and assistance from government, health and other relevant agencies.

10. Avoid the use of social media as a source of trustworthy information (unless from official or trusted parties) and reinforce this advice with employees.  

An online resource offered by KPMG provides a wealth of similar advice to organizations categorized by type (e.g., governance, HR, security) and time (e.g., immediate, mid to long-term), and includes a list of things to consider following the event.  In this case, let me emphasize the forward-looking nature of these recommendations.  In other words, one of the most important things we can do following an event like this is to

·       Debrief and discuss any lessons learned

·       Assign any outstanding issues and report on the status of such issues until resolution

·       Update the Pandemic Plan and any other related Business Continuity/Resiliency Plans based on lessons learned

·       Validate the Pandemic Plan annually (i.e., through tabletop exercises, functional exercises, tests) so personnel understand their roles and responsibilities

·       Validate critical business processes can continue with internal and external support

·       Confirm communication tools are available and operational

For now, we must focus on quelling the pandemic. But our goal as a society should be to prepare to be ready to address the impacts of such an event.   It’s highly likely we’ll see similar events in the future.  Implementing a practiced plan will be far easier on all of us.