01786 489666
info@farmore.co.uk
info@farmore.co.uk
Swine Flu Response Plan
With the number of cases of Swine Flu doubling in Scotland every 7 days, the British Chambers of Commerce are predicting that as many as 1 in 8 workers could be infected by November 2009 and therefore feel that every organisation should prepare a Swine Flu Response Plan.
Farmore IT have created a brief introduction to producing a Swine Flu Response Plan to ensure business continuity in the event of members of your staff being affected.
Although the disease is not normally life-threatening and is easily treatable, it is nonetheless likely to cause large-scale disruption to business. A basic Response Plan should help businesses to put procedures in place that will help to minimise the loss of productivity in the event of unforeseen absences.
Planning
1) Do you have a person designated as the Swine Flu Response Coordinator?
2) Does every member of staff know what they should do in the event of feeling unwell or showing Swine Flu symptoms?
3) If sent home, could staff still access their work documents, contacts and emails?
4) If a member of staff is unexpectedly absent, could their work be done by another person?
The key to this plan is to ensure that no single member of staff holds ‘the keys to the kingdom’ so we want to make certain that any task in the organisation can be performed:
a) remotely from home.
b) by more than one member of staff
Swine Flu Response Coordinator
This grand sounding title simply means a person given responsibility for ensuring that the correct procedure is followed in the event of a member of staff showing symptoms of Swine Flu.
The Name, email address and phone number of the Coordinator should be given to all members of staff and everyone should be told to contact the Coordinator before coming into the office if they feel unwell.
If the Coordinator feels that the member of staff should not come into the office, it is the Coordinator’s responsibility to provide the member of staff with the information they need to access their work computer, files, contacts, documents etc from home.
It is also the Coordinator’s responsibility to inform staff of the possible case of Swine Flu and to ensure that they observe strict hygiene rules and remain on the lookout for symptoms in themselves and others.
Working from Home
People infected with Swine Flu are most infectious when the symptoms first start to appear, so it is imperative that potentially infected staff are isolated from their colleagues as soon as they show symptoms. This will typically mean being asked to stay at home. However, being sent home need not mean that they cannot work provided the correct procedures and infrastructure are in place. So long as each member of staff has an Internet connected computer and a telephone at home they should be able to continue as normal. In a small number of cases this may mean having laptop computers with mobile broadband and a mobile phone made available to staff to use while they are at home.
Buddying
If a member of staff becomes incapacitated by the virus and unable to work, their role will need to be taken over by a designated colleague or ‘buddy’. In which case, the buddy would need access to their colleague’s emails, files, contacts and software. This may mean storing the files on a shared folder on the network, sharing passwords (responsibly!) and creating a shared list of contacts. Each member of staff and their buddy should be familiar with each other’s work and should be able to take it over at short notice.
This plan was prepared by Jonathan Farley, Director of Farmore IT Ltd. in Stirling as general advice on how an organisation can minimise lost productivity caused by the Swine Flu Pandemic. The plan is designed to highlight the need to put basic procedures and infrastructure in place but is not in itself a guarantee. Each organisation should draw up its own Swine Flu Response Plan.
Help with creating the necessary technical infrastructure can be provided by Farmore IT. Please call 01786 489666 or email jonathan.farley@farmore.co.uk for further information.
A PDF version of this plan is available here:
Swine Flu Response Plan
Farmore IT have created a brief introduction to producing a Swine Flu Response Plan to ensure business continuity in the event of members of your staff being affected.
Although the disease is not normally life-threatening and is easily treatable, it is nonetheless likely to cause large-scale disruption to business. A basic Response Plan should help businesses to put procedures in place that will help to minimise the loss of productivity in the event of unforeseen absences.
Planning
1) Do you have a person designated as the Swine Flu Response Coordinator?
2) Does every member of staff know what they should do in the event of feeling unwell or showing Swine Flu symptoms?
3) If sent home, could staff still access their work documents, contacts and emails?
4) If a member of staff is unexpectedly absent, could their work be done by another person?
The key to this plan is to ensure that no single member of staff holds ‘the keys to the kingdom’ so we want to make certain that any task in the organisation can be performed:
a) remotely from home.
b) by more than one member of staff
Swine Flu Response Coordinator
This grand sounding title simply means a person given responsibility for ensuring that the correct procedure is followed in the event of a member of staff showing symptoms of Swine Flu.
The Name, email address and phone number of the Coordinator should be given to all members of staff and everyone should be told to contact the Coordinator before coming into the office if they feel unwell.
If the Coordinator feels that the member of staff should not come into the office, it is the Coordinator’s responsibility to provide the member of staff with the information they need to access their work computer, files, contacts, documents etc from home.
It is also the Coordinator’s responsibility to inform staff of the possible case of Swine Flu and to ensure that they observe strict hygiene rules and remain on the lookout for symptoms in themselves and others.
Working from Home
People infected with Swine Flu are most infectious when the symptoms first start to appear, so it is imperative that potentially infected staff are isolated from their colleagues as soon as they show symptoms. This will typically mean being asked to stay at home. However, being sent home need not mean that they cannot work provided the correct procedures and infrastructure are in place. So long as each member of staff has an Internet connected computer and a telephone at home they should be able to continue as normal. In a small number of cases this may mean having laptop computers with mobile broadband and a mobile phone made available to staff to use while they are at home.
Buddying
If a member of staff becomes incapacitated by the virus and unable to work, their role will need to be taken over by a designated colleague or ‘buddy’. In which case, the buddy would need access to their colleague’s emails, files, contacts and software. This may mean storing the files on a shared folder on the network, sharing passwords (responsibly!) and creating a shared list of contacts. Each member of staff and their buddy should be familiar with each other’s work and should be able to take it over at short notice.
This plan was prepared by Jonathan Farley, Director of Farmore IT Ltd. in Stirling as general advice on how an organisation can minimise lost productivity caused by the Swine Flu Pandemic. The plan is designed to highlight the need to put basic procedures and infrastructure in place but is not in itself a guarantee. Each organisation should draw up its own Swine Flu Response Plan.
Help with creating the necessary technical infrastructure can be provided by Farmore IT. Please call 01786 489666 or email jonathan.farley@farmore.co.uk for further information.
A PDF version of this plan is available here:
Swine Flu Response Plan