Swine Flu, otherwise known as ‘Influenza A (H1N1)’ to give it its medical term, forced employers to dust down their policies on how to respond to a flu pandemic or set them up if they were not in place.

One North London-based media company confirmed that several individuals had been asked to work from home when they declared to HR that their children had come into contact with pupils from schools that were forced to temporarily close as a result of the infection.

According to absence management firm FirstCare, 27,000 people in the UK took the day off on 27 April complaining of cold, cough and flu symptoms. This figure is at least 8.2% higher than would be expected for this time of year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) raised its pandemic alert level to ‘Phase 5’ (i.e. human-to human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region) on 29 April 2009 and advised all organisations to take this announcement ‘very seriously’ and put into action business continuity plans.

A statement from its website on 1 May said:
‘It is crucial, if you haven’t already got a major incident policy in place, to establish one now. The key to all plans should be to understand, on a real time basis, the effect of the flu on your organisation and how it will impact business operations. Most large businesses have been working on flu pandemic planning for a number of years but this is the first time most have had to implement them.

It is crucial that the plan is used in a timely manner; Swine Flu has already caught the world off guard and was able to spread across many countries before boarders could be closed; organisations cannot afford to let the same happen to them. If you operate a call centre and wait until you have a number of cases of flu before issuing an order to implement home working then it will be too late; up to 30% of your staff will already be infected.’

Ben Wilmott, senior public policy adviser at the CIPD made the point that ‘employers should think about maximising home working and investigate the potential for increasing the use of video-links and teleconferencing to help limit the amount of face-to-face contact. Organisations should also identify key roles that must be carried out and those individuals who have a wide range of skills who can fulfil more than one function’.

He went on to add: ‘In case of a pandemic, employers should also formulate clear advice for staff on the symptoms of the virus and the importance of staying at home and seeking medical advice at the soonest opportunity.’

What isn’t clear is what is being stored up for later in the year. Should employers be prepared for trouble ahead? The People Bulletin spoke to Dr Achim Schwenk, a consultant in infectious diseases at North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust. He commented:

‘Now that the first wave of media attention is gone, it is time to have a realistic view on the risk of influenza. The Mexican Swine Flu is spreading fast worldwide but so far, it has cost very few lives outside of Mexico. It is quite possible that in the UK this will replace the seasonal flu this winter season. Will it be more severe than seasonal flu? Probably yes, because nobody has got immunity against it, so it will spread faster and wider (around 25% of the population is estimated). Will it be as bad as the 1918 Spanish Influenza? Probably not - the great killer is always bacterial super infection and we now have got good antibiotics. Also we don’t have thousands of undernourished soldiers in camps across Europe, so there are fewer susceptible people. And the UK has pretty good planning expertise in the Health Protection Agency and the NHS.’

(Courtesy The People Bulletin)