Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat

Considering the pandemic threat in a business continuity context

Pandemics are by their nature widespread, indiscriminate, and impossible to prevent.

This book considers how pandemics affect organizations – including operating with a depleted workforce – and explains how best to prepare for and mitigate their effects.

It covers:

• Pandemic plan considerations, including:
• Working from home
• Supply chain management
• Crisis management roles and responsibilities
• Communications and media plans
• Employees’ health and safety, including corporate cleanliness and healthy habits
• SARS and norovirus case studies
• Actions at a global, national, corporate, and individual level
• Health services contingency plans
• How to validate your pandemic plan

“A must-have for businesses preparing for the 2019 novel coronavirus (aka 2019-nCoV, COVID-19).” – Alan Calder, Founder and Executive Chairman of IT Governance Ltd

Draw on past pandemics to prepare

The increase in commercial aviation and international travel means that pandemics now spread faster than ever before.

Seasonal flu pandemics, zoonotic contagions such as Ebola, swine flu and avian flu (e.g. H5N1 and H7N9), respiratory syndromes such as SARS and MERS, and now COVID-19 (the 2019 novel coronavirus) have affected millions worldwide.

Add the ever-present threat of terrorism and biological warfare, and the possibility of large proportions of your workforce being incapacitated is a lot stronger than you might think.

You may well have prepared for limited business interruptions, but how would your organization fare if 50% or more of your employees, including those you rely on to execute your business continuity plan, were afflicted by illness – or worse?

Although nothing can be done to prevent pandemics, their impact can be significantly mitigated. Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat explains how.

Product overview

The book is divided into two parts, which examine the pandemic threat and explain how businesses can address it:

• Part I: Understanding the Threat

  Provides the reader with a detailed overview of the challenge that pandemic threats can present. It uses historical examples (such as the 1918–19 Spanish Flu outbreak, which killed 50 million) to illustrate how pandemics can have devastating effects not only on the global population but also on critical infrastructure, the global economy and society.

• Part II: Preparing for the Inevitable

  Considers the actions that can be taken at a global, national, corporate and individual level to mitigate the risk and limit the damage of pandemic incidents. It provides guidance on creating and validating a pandemic plan, and explains how it integrates with a business continuity plan. Comprehensive case studies are provided throughout.

Additional topics covered

Topics covered include:

• The WHO’s (World Health Organization) pandemic phases and the CDC’s (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Pandemic Severity Index.
• Preventive control measures.
• Crisis management and the composition of a crisis management team.
• Dealing with cash flow, staff absenteeism, home working, and supply chain management.
• Communications and media plans.
• Pandemic issues for HR.
• The threat to critical national infrastructure.
• Health service contingency plans and first responders’ business continuity plans.
• The provision of vaccines and antiviral medicines, including relevant ethical issues.

“I thoroughly enjoyed reading Clark’s book which is written in a style that makes it easy for anyone to understand without requiring a background in medicine or business. I have been involved in disaster management planning for the past ten years and yet I still found this book both enlightening and extremely informative.”

- Dr Tanya Melillo MD, MSc (Dist), PhD

 

"This informative book is written in an easy going and conversational manner, but the message it brings to the table is critical to understanding the meaning of any forthcoming pandemic threat and considerations of how to mitigate the effects, where possible, to you and your organisation.”

- Owen Gregory, BA (Hons), MSc, MBCI, MBCS