Get Ready NOW for H1N1!
The CDC has issued help for businesses trying to cope with the upcoming flu season. We have summarized their recommendations for you. Please check www.flu.gov periodically for updates.
Planning for Fall and Winter Influenza Season
More communities may be affected by the H1N1 flu than in the spring/summer 2009. Also, seasonal influenza viruses may cause illness at the same time. In response, the CDC has revised its recommendations to assist businesses and other employers of all sizes.
The CDC can’t predict exactly the severity of H1N1 flu (including hospitalizations and deaths) or the amount of illness that may occur as a result of seasonal influenza during the 2009–2010 influenza season. Employers should be flexible and prepared to change plans if the outbreak of influenza evolves during the fall and winter. More people and communities are likely to be affected as influenza is more widely transmitted. The CDC and its partners will monitor national and international severity of the influenza, and will make additional recommendations as needed.
Your Response Strategies
Balance your objectives when deciding how to keep flu from spreading and lower the impact in your workplace. They may include reducing transmission among staff, protecting people who are at risk of complications from getting infected and maintaining business operations.
Base your response to influenza outbreaks on local information from local and state public health authorities, such as:
· Disease severity (i.e., hospitalization and death rates) in the community;
· Number of people who are sick in the community;
· Absenteeism in your business;
· Impact of disease on vulnerable and high risk employees (e.g., pregnant women, employees with chronic medical conditions); and
· Other factors that may affect employees’ ability to get to work, such as school closures.
Plan now to obtain updated information from state and local health departments and to respond quickly to the changing reality on the ground. If you have more than one business location, provide local managers with the authority to take appropriate action based on local conditions.
Preparedness and Response Recommendations
Even employers in communities that have not yet felt effects from 2009 H1N1 influenza should plan for an influenza outbreak this fall and winter. During an influenza pandemic, ALL sick people should stay home and away from the workplace, hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes should be encouraged, and common surfaces should be cleaned routinely. If severity increases, public health officials may recommend social distancing, which means increasing the physical distance between people. This could include school dismissal, child care program closure, canceling large community gatherings, canceling large business-related meetings, spacing workers farther apart in the workplace, canceling non-essential travel, and recommending work-from-home strategies for workers.
Your business may need to do more if you experience high absenteeism or business continuity is compromised.
Keep Sick Workers Home
The best way to reduce the spread of influenza is to keep sick people away from well people. However, in the fall and winter, it will not be possible to quickly determine if workers who are ill have 2009 H1N1, seasonal influenza, or any number of other conditions.
Workers who have symptoms of influenza-like illness are recommended to stay home and not come to work until at least 24 hours after their fever is gone. All employers should start now to encourage sick workers to stay home without fear of losing their jobs. CDC recommends this strategy for ALL levels of severity. You should plan now for how you will operate if there is significant absenteeism from sick workers. However, some persons with influenza, including those ill with 2009 H1N1, do not have fever. It may be impossible to exclude everyone who is ill with influenza from the workplace.
Be Prepared if Schools Dismiss Students or Child Care Programs Close
In some communities, schools may dismiss students and childcare programs may close, particularly if the severity increases. Officials will make these decisions to protect public health, but they will affect your business’s functioning, especially affecting absenteeism. Plan now to determine how you will operate if absenteeism spikes from increases in sick workers, those who stay home to care for ill family members, and those who must stay home to watch their children if dismissed from school. Businesses and other employers should prepare to institute flexible workplace and leave policies for these workers.
Actions You Should Take Now
· Review or establish a flexible influenza pandemic plan and involve your employees in developing and reviewing your plan;
· Conduct a focused discussion or exercise using your plan, to find out ahead of time whether the plan has gaps or problems that need to be corrected before flu season;
· Know your organization’s normal seasonal absenteeism rates and know how to monitor for any unusual increases in absenteeism through the fall and winter.
· Contact state and local health department to confirm channels of communication and methods for dissemination of local outbreak information;
· Encourage sick workers to stay home without fear of losing their jobs;
· Develop flexible leave policies to allow workers to stay home to care for sick family members or for children if schools dismiss students or child care programs close;
· Share your influenza pandemic plan with employees and explain how human resources policies, workplace and leave flexibilities, and pay and benefits will apply;
· Share best practices with other businesses in your communities (especially those in your supply chain), chambers of commerce, and associations to improve community response efforts; and
· Add a widget or button to your company Web page or Intranet so employees can access the latest information on flu: www.cdc.gov/widgets/ and www.cdc.gov/SocialMedia/Campaigns/H1N1/buttons.html
Resources You Can Use To Prepare
One-Stop: www.flu.gov
2009 H1N1 Influenza Information: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
2009 H1N1 Influenza Resources for Businesses and Employers: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/business/
Worker Safety and Health Guidance for a Pandemic: www.osha.gov/dsg/topics/pandemicflu/index.html
OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for an Influenza Pandemic: http://www.osha.gov/Publications/influenza_pandemic.html
CDC/NIOSH Occupational Health Issues Associated with 2009 H1N1 Influenza Virus: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/h1n1flu/
Checklist for Home Preparedness: http://bit.ly/a3EVs
|
