The H1N1 virus is back in the news and predictions for the number of infected US citizens is staggering. As an HR professional or business owner you’ll want to put practices and policies in place to protect your workers against the spread of the H1N1 flu virus and have a solid plan if it should take hold in your organization.
OSHA has published guidelines to help businesses establish permanent and stop-gap measures to halt the spread of flu viruses. They recommend implementing their “hierarchy of control measures” to protect workers and customers.
Prevention
Engineering Control: Reducing exposure through permanent solutions that do not rely on worker or customer behavior. An example would include installing physical barriers, such as sneeze guards.
Administrative Control: Reducing exposure through temporary solutions that modify work schedules and tasks. Consider telecommuting during peak outbreak periods and encourage ill workers to stay home without fear of punishment or retaliation.
Work Practices: Reducing exposure by encouraging safe and proper practices that limit duration, frequency and intensity. Advocate a hand washing policy, ask employees to cover sneezes and coughs and encourage vaccinations.
Personal Protective Equipment: Reducing exposure during critical or emergency type situations. Examples include face masks and protective gloves.
The full text of the OSHA recommendations can be found here.
Business Continuity
Prevention is the best medicine, but businesses must be prepared to deal with an outbreak, especially if your industry is vulnerable, such as healthcare workers, educators or those that engage face-to-face with the general public.
Communicate clear policies regarding sick leave. Ill employees should stay home and employees who become sick at work should be sent home. Be prepared to handle questions and administration of FMLA.
Prepare a back-up plan for essential workers. Have a plan to keep the servers running, the phones answered and other frontline responsibilities fulfilled in the event of a wide spread breakout. Consider cross-training and work-from-home policies. Make sure outsourcing partners and vendors have back up plans as well.
Arrange for access to the most up-to-date, accurate information. Conditions can change rapidly. Prepare to make adjustments or implement additional measures at a moment’s notice. And make sure you know how you will control the message to employees to avoid panic or misinformation. The CDC has an email alert feature on their web site.
