Government offers guidelines for Business and Avian Flu Preparations

Technocrat

Government offers guidelines for Business and Avian Flu Preparations

zogger

Tue Feb 06 15:24:56 -0800 2007

Health+and+Medicine.

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is offering guidelines for businesses to help them prepare for possible Avian flu pandemic. They identify what they feel are the key parts of the nation's infrastructure, and then the guidelines for protecting your workers and your business.

full press release, more at the links provided:

"The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today unveiled new workplace safety and health guidance that will help employers prepare for an influenza pandemic.

Developed in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for an Influenza Pandemic provides general guidance for all types of workplaces, describes the differences between seasonal, avian and pandemic influenza, and presents information on the nature of a potential pandemic, how the virus is likely to spread and how exposure is likely to occur.

Under the president's National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Implementation Plan, the Labor Department is responsible for promoting the health, safety and welfare of employees and providing guidance to assist employers in protecting the health and safety of employees during a pandemic flu.

"In anticipation of a flu pandemic, our top priority is protecting the safety and health of America's working men and women,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Edwin G. Foulke Jr. "Employers and employees should use this guidance to help identify risk levels and implement appropriate control measures to prevent illness in the workplace.”

To help employers determine appropriate workplace practices and precautions, the guidance divides workplaces and work operations into four risk zones, according to the likelihood of employees' occupational exposure to pandemic influenza. Recommendations for employee protection are presented for each of the four levels of anticipated risk and include engineering controls, work practices and use of personal protective equipment such as respirators and surgical masks and their relative value in protecting employees.

The Labor Department/HHS guidance also encourages employers to prepare a plan to deal with a depleted workforce during a pandemic. In addition, the guidance includes links to helpful Web sites with additional information and a list of technical articles and resources, including a history on flu pandemics, symptoms and outcomes of various strains of the influenza, and details on the transmission of the virus.

It is important to note that workplace safety and health guidance may evolve and change over time as new information becomes available. For instance, the characteristics of the specific strain of influenza virus ultimately responsible for the pandemic may affect the way in which the disease is spread and therefore additional guidance would be tailored to that information. Up-to-date information and guidance is available to employers, employees and the general public through www.pandemicflu.gov, the federal government's Web site for information regarding pandemic flu.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov."

Odd priorities

pyro9

Wed Feb 07 05:48:19 -0800 2007
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They talk a lot about masks and respirators, not sharing phones, etc. but devote all of one line to common sense:

"Encourage sick employees to stay home"

I would say that for employee positions that cannot be done from home:
1. Provide sick pay. Sick employees who can't afford to lose hours will try to 'tough it out' and spread their disease.
2. Encourage employees to be well rested, provide working hours and pay that permits ample rest. Well rested people don't get sick as easily.

3. Limit meetings. Meetings are a great way to maximise exposure to disease.

For the other category, any job that CAN be done from home SHOULD be done from home. Staying at home minimises employee exposure to disease and prevents employee to employee contagion.

If productivity is a concern, try part-time telecommuting. This will permit actual measurement of productivity, reduce an employee's incentive to 'tough it out' should they get sick, and provide a smoother transition should it be necessary to temporarily move to full-time telecommuting during an outbreak.

Odd priorities

Charles E Hill

Wed Feb 07 09:05:36 -0800 2007
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Bingo.

The last place I worked had a hard and fast rule -- if you are sick, you do NOT come in the office. They had ample sick time so it wasn't a matter of losing hours.

They provided a fully stocked break room. Stocked with fresh fruits, nuts, bottled water and juices.

It was, without a doubt, the best place I ever worked.

Charles

Odd priorities

rubycodez

Wed Feb 07 09:41:20 -0800 2007
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with 23% of the U.S. workforce in "manufacturing, extraction, transportation and crafts" and another 17% in "other services", according to the CIA World Factbook, will it really matter from the point of spreading disease if the 60% of the workforce that operates out of offices shows up at work or not? that's 40% of the workforce that probably can't telecommute.

Odd priorities

pyro9

Wed Feb 07 11:49:11 -0800 2007
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A 60% reduction in the daytime population density in cities would almost certainly slow the spread of a disease in a pandemic.
Since the flu spreads through casual contact, having less people to be in contact with could potentially give an exponential benefit. Consider, all of those people NOT exchanging cash with toll boot operators, not standing in crowded subways, etc.

As an added bonus, a concerned teleworker will be more likely (and more able) to keep the kids home from school and further limit the potential for the spread of disease.

Most public health plans for pandemics DO include closing public venues and even public transportation because limiting interpersonal contact to smaller groups does likely help. Most would like to implement those steps earlier in the crisis except that they are compelled to balance the health benefits against the economic harm. Telecommuting reduces that economic harm immediatly.

The reduction in total serious illness could make the difference between hospitals just getting by and failing miserably under the load.

It's hardly a cure all, but it should help significantly.

Odd priorities

rubycodez

Wed Feb 07 12:08:43 -0800 2007
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of course all us office workers will then go to the grocery store in an orgy of hoarding and infect each other anyway. I'm reminded of the HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy comment about some world losing a largely useless (by virtue of occupation) chunk of the population, and that not really having a major impact on the sum of things.

Cool thought: if we could telecommute then why not do it half or more of the time now, and save billions in energy and millions of barrels of oil a day?

Odd priorities

pyro9

Wed Feb 07 13:10:08 -0800 2007
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of course all us office workers will then go to the grocery store in an orgy of hoarding and infect each other anyway.

There will be some of that, but 2 hour's exposure for 1 day a week beats 8 hours five days a week AND 2 hours at the store.

The advice to not share telephones reminded me of the same incident in the Hitchhiker's Guide (telephone sanitisers were included in the 'useless' group. Unfortunatly the civilization was wiped out by a disease picked up from an unsanitised telephone :-)

Cool thought: if we could telecommute then why not do it half or more of the time now, and save billions in energy and millions of barrels of oil a day?

In part because most people haven't learned how to work effectively from home, middle managers who can't believe anything is getting done unless people stuff themselves into shirt and tie and sit in a cubicle, addiction to 'face time' and meetings, etc.

For the most part, I don't they're particularly good reasons, but that seems to be the reasoning involved.

Global warming and energy use don't seem strong enough to overcome the objections, but perhaps "Imagine half of your workforce dead and the other half in the hospital" would be enough.