Swine Flu Outbreak Resources

As a public service, here are a few reliable and current sources for information in regards to the Swine Flu outbreak:

Webinars:
April 29, 2009 – 11:30 a.m. PT/2:30 p.m. ET
1 hour (45 minutes content; 15 minutes Q & A)
Featuring Dr. Robert C. Chandler, Ph.D., crisis communication expert

• Will Your Swine Flu Communication Plan Work?
  The current swine flu outbreak is a serious issue, and already swine flu-related rumors and misinformation are making the rounds. Will your constituents be able to tell fact from fiction? Are you prepared to quickly guide, advise, and protect your audience in this public health emergency?
  REGISTER HERE (FREE)

• Recorded Pandemic Planning Webinar (Free of Charge)

---

Current Updates:

 

• World Health Organization (WHO) – swine flu site
  http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html 

   

• Centers for Disease Control (CDC) – swine flu site
  http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm 

   

• U.S. government pandemic flu website
  http://www.pandemicflu.gov/ 

   

• US State Department – travel advisories
  http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html

---

Pandemic Planning Resources/Articles:

• Ensuring Workforce Continuity During A Pandemic
• Influenza Pandemic Presents Unique Challenges
• Pandemic Planning: Just One Piece of the Program
• Preparing for an Influenza Pandemic
• Swine Flu- Frequently asked questions

Bird Flu Update

The information below comes from The Independent, a news organization in the UK. Although the story was distributed by Reuters, major US news media sources have not yet reported on it. -Ed 

Date: Sun 12 Apr 2009
Source: The Independent online [edited]

Infections in Egypt raise scientists’ fears that the virus will be spread by humans. This paradox — emerging from Egypt, the most recent epicentre of the disease — threatens to increase the disease’s ability to spread from person to person by helping it achieve the crucial mutation in the virus which could turn it into the greatest plague to hit Britain since the Black Death. Last year [2009], the government identified the bird-flu virus H5N1 as the biggest threat facing the country, with the potential to kill up to 750 000 Britons.

Safety Accountability

Although it is difficult to create a hazard-free work environment, good managers who are committed to safety and who involves their employees in an effective safety program can work to provide an accident-free workplace.

One very effective way that supervision can involve employees in the workplace safety program is by using “Tailgate” or “Toolbox” safety meetings. These are 10-15 minute on-the-job meetings to discuss safety and work-related accidents and illnesses with employees. Tailgate/toolbox safety meetings can be used to address actual problems on the job or in the shop. The supervisor leading the meeting can draw on the experience of workers and use that experience to remind all employees – especially newer ones – of the dangers of working with particular kinds of machinery, tools, equipment, and materials.

A true safety culture begins with management. While a safe workplace is the responsibility of all employees, managers and frontline supervisors are accountable for the safety of their workplace and are responsible for the prevention of accidents. The primary management tools used to promote and develop a safe workplace are  communication, commitment, involvement, and implementation. 

Workplace safety is not an option

Times are tough for businesses right now. They will get better, but in the meantime every business is taking whatever measures they can to ensure they will be there to see it. 

Every business owner is well aware of what they need, financially, to operate and continue to generate profit. To meet that goal as painlessly as possible, they will shed whatever expenses they can to increase the margin between expenses and income. There is absolutley nothing wrong with profit. Profit is the main goal of opening and operating a business. What matters is what methods are employed to generate and maintain that profit margin. Some of the measures businesses may take include cutting back on inventory, raising prices, cutting back on salaries or even their workforce. Another common method of minimizing the cost of business is to curtail travel and training for staff. 

In the fervor to minimize costs, valuable programs may be shelved or cut without the benefit of proper examination. Professional development courses are cut completely, instead of cut back – eliminating a key means of maintaining currency and market competitiveness. The business may survive, but it’s marketability is greatly reduced because it now lags behind competition.

Another program that seems to be among the first victims of cutbacks is the workplace safety program. This is where a lot of businesses get in trouble- financially and/or legally. There are quite a few types of safety training that can be cut back on, or even eliminated, but cutting all training out completely is a very, very bad idea.  There are two very big reasons why cutting safety training can be compared with a business cutting it’s figurative wrists.

It’s never the quiet one..

• Atlanta, Georgia, July 1999. A stock market day trader goes on a day-long shooting rampage, killing 12 people including his wife and two children before taking his own life.
• Chicago, August 2003. A worker who was laid off shoots and kills six of his former co-workers with a semi-automatic pistol. The shooter had a lengthy arrest record, including for weapons offenses.
• Brookfield, Wisconsin, March 2005. A man fires 22 rounds during a church service, killing seven people.
• Blacksburg, Virginia, April 2007. A student shoots 47 people at Virginia Tech, killing 32 before he commits suicide, in the deadliest mass shooting in the United States.
• North Carolina. March 29, 2009. A heavily-armed gunman shoots dead eight people, many elderly and sick patients, in a North Carolina nursing home.

“Going postal” they call it.. say those words and nearly everyone immediately knows what you’re talking about. Forget the fact that in the last ten years there have been nineteen mass shootings in the US, and not a single one involving the postal service. The point is that when these things happen, the tendency is to point, ooh, ahh, crack some jokes to ward off the scariness, and then move on to the next headline. What we should be doing is making the best out of a horrible situation by learning the lessons it teaches.

What makes a good security officer?

Every security manager dreams of having a staff of perfect security officers. When recruiting, they look for ideals.. and often overlook many “diamonds in the rough”.  Yes, training budgets are strained right now. The danger is in using lack of training funds as an excuse to go only  after the very best. That may be a good idea in the short term, but can cause other issues long term.

I have a theory about what makes a good security officer. Its all about balance. Every potential recruit has certain qualities- some measurable, and some subjective. The key to selecting the “best” recruit is to identify these qualities and find the right mix.

“We have met the enemy, and he is us..”

For the last 5 years or so, we’ve been hearing all about this big danger of the H5N1 virus (aka Bird Flu) mutating to the point that it could be easily transmitted between people. Should this happen, experts say, the result would be a worldwide pandemic that could kill millions upon millions of people. Three out of five people who have caught this virus die. An estimated 243 of the 385 people it is known to have infected between late 2003 and mid 2008, according to the World Health Organization.  Those infected were exposed to the virus from poultry, usually chickens, which they raised and were around for long periods of time.

The high mortality rate associated with the H5N1 virus is what scares the medical and emergency preparedness experts. If it mutates to the point that it can be passed from person to person, the results will be catastrophic.

The Key to a Successful Security Program

Security programs have many components, each important in it’s own way.  Companies invest big bucks for the latest technology or headhunt all over the country for the best management available in their quest for safety and security for their staff, assets and facilities. The one component which tends to get the least attention, and which ultimately makes all other investments moot, is the men and women wearing the uniform.

Updating Emergency Plans

Emergency plans must be reviewed at least annually. The next time you review yours, pay attention to details, especially those sections that may have been lifted from templates or other sources.

I recently reviewed plans from four different workplaces, and found at least one common problem with each. When I pointed out the section to the clients, each confirmed that it had been part of the template they used, and they had accepted it at face value.  Chances are, you’ll find it in yours as well.

Accident Investigation

One of the best ways to prevent tomorrow’s accident is to investigate the causes of accidents that happen today. A good accident investigation is not unlike like a crime scene investigation. The difference is that the culprit we look for is a cause, not a person. The purpose of an accident investigation is not to place blame on anyone. We need to get in, examine the scene and gather evidence before anything is moved or changes, and interview witnesses while the experience is fresh in their minds. Once we know the details about how an accident occurred, we piece all this information together in an effort to understand why the incident happened. Knowing why something happens is the first step in making sure it doesn’t happen again.