Way back in March 2006, I opened this thread, asking if YOUR company had mentioned BF to it’s employees. At that time, I worked for a very large company based in Connecticut, and nothing had been mentioned to any of us. A few snippets of “ emergency excercises” were released to us, mostly in the guise of “Pandemic preparedness response”. The excercise that I witnessed was full of “bloody bodies” (fake of course), that represented the carnage after an attack on the building. This was used to tell the employees that we were ready for a pandemic, because the fire and police departments were “fully aware of what a pandemic could do”. Uhm…right.
Anyway, today, I no longer work there, since moving out of state. But a friend who still works there forwarded an email to me that details what, for now, the company is planning to do for employees during this coming flu season and in case of a pandemic. Herewith are a few snippets of the email, although I’ve replaced the company name with ABCXYZ:
ABCXYZ’s pandemic preparedness planning is guided by ABCXYZ’s values and focused on two critical objectives: to be there – no matter what – for the people who use our services and to help employees stay healthy. To that end, we’ve developed a learning course (on the internal website) designed to help you understand the facts about the avian (bird) flu, the pandemic threat and steps you can take, starting now, to protect you and your families.
The Pandemic Flu Awareness course, which can be accessed via the (internal website), provides you with practical information and common-sense approaches you can use to reduce your risk of infection from pandemic flu, as well as other less-serious communicable diseases, such as seasonal flu. The course takes about 30 minutes to complete.
Encouraging Healthy Habits to Reduce Risk of Infection
During the course, you will learn simple techniques you can use to prevent the spread of infection such as cough etiquette, work space hygiene, social distancing and hand hygiene.
Practicing good hand hygiene is often cited as the single most important way to control the spread of infection, particularly in the workplace. To encourage this healthy habit, ABCXYZ will distribute a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel to all employees who work in ABCXYZ offices beginning in mid-November.
Also starting in mid-November and throughout the normal flu season, alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers will be available in ABCXYZ locations across the country.
Looking Ahead
The Pandemic Preparedness Flu team continues to closely monitor the progression of bird flu in other countries through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization. Our plans center on three main areas: prevention/infection control, business continuity and crisis response.
To make it easy for you to stay informed, a new ABCXYZ web page, Flu Preparedness has been created to house pandemic-related communications, facts and information. Employees can also find links to customer-related information and external resources.
In the meantime, we strongly encourage you to take the Pandemic Flu Awareness course before the end of the year. The more you know, the better prepared you and your family will be should a pandemic flu occur.
The old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” has never been truer. Let’s work together to keep each other healthy. (And don’t forget to get your flu shot!)
It does my heart good that, even though I’m no longer with the company, some of my input (the hand-sanitizer idea) is being used. They are the smallish bottles, but at least it’s a start. I’ve asked my friend to take the course and let me know what it says about “cough etiquette” and the “social distancing” suggestions…
My employer is taking a 5 step approach to inform the workforce. So far they have communicated:
Hillbilly Bill – at 14:30 --- At least they’ve moved up to using bigger words… ;-)
LOL @ Hillbilly Bill, hummm, wonder if we work for same company. Everytime I bring up BF, Pan Flu, I get a blank look and a “what are you talking about?” You would think that a company who’s major leaders are Mormon that there would be a least a whisper about a plan, so far NOTHING is being done except what I’ve done in my locatation. At least I know DH company has a plan in place, wished I worked there sometimes, but then I hate getting dirty and greasy..lol
“two critical objectives: to be there – no matter what – for the people who use our services and to help employees stay healthy. To that end, we’ve developed a learning course (on the internal website) designed to help you understand the facts about the avian (bird) flu, the pandemic threat and steps you can take, starting now, to protect you and your families.”
(Buzzer sounds! “Pick another category please; still your turn!”)
In the meantime, I strongly encourage you to take the Flu Wiki Pandemic Flu Awareness week course before the end of the workday
WHO Report “If bird flu virus becomes pandemic, high death rates possible” …’‘’A group of eminent influenza scientists gathered by the WHO last month concluded there is no reason to believe that the virus, which kills roughly 60 per cent of people who become infected, would become any milder if it evolves to become a pandemic strain.
The report, based on that meeting, cautions governments against spending a lot of money to stockpile existing H5N1 vaccines. It also reveals that a low level of H5N1 viruses found in wild and domestic birds appear to be naturally resistant to oseltamivir, the main flu drug being stockpiled against a future pandemic’‘’
Perhaps that could all accidentally be emailed out to everyone at work…or at least to “The Pandemic Preparedness Flu team” …and the local media…
Okay, here are the five websites that the above-mentioned ABCXYZ company is telling employees to look at:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
U.S. Government Avian and Pandemic Flu Information
For Seasonal Flu — Immunization Action Coalition Checklist
The US govt, despite good mention of disruptions, then confuses the issue by saying
Prepare for Pandemic by having a 2 week supply of water and food….
People would be better off reading the Flu Wiki ;-)
A while back, I commented to the other half that if AF hit someone in his office, he’d be sleeping in the garage for the duration because no way in hell would I let him back in the house.
He said not to worry, that if that happened, nonessential personnel would be told to stay home and do as much work as possible there. If he was at the office, he’d be staying put because they’d be in lockdown mode. That was the first time I heard of that. I pressed for more info but he just shrugged and said plans were in place to deal with the situation. Since he works for the government in a classified capacity, that was all I was going to get.
crfullmoon – at 15:03 --- Perhaps that could all accidentally be emailed out to everyone at work…or at least to “The Pandemic Preparedness Flu team”
I tried that, back in March. The only person who would contact me was their Public Communications Coordinator, and she said that TPTB had already decided on what they were going to convey to the employees. There were no names attached to the “Pandemic Prep Flu team” at that time…
Currently, the company has about 30,000 employees and over 14 million customers.
;-) How many water coolers or coffee machine do they have? sigh.
http://www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/sup11.html#III.B
“S11-III. REcommendations for the Interpandemic and Pandemic Alert Periods, Institutionalizing psychosocial support services “
…”Healthcare and public health planners should also contact community-based organizations and nongovernmental organizations to determine the types of psychological and social support services and training courses available in their jurisdictions.
Healthcare and public health officials should consider needs for information sharing with emergency planners in schools, law enforcement agencies, and local businesses. Planning for the provision of psychosocial support services might include the following activities: Ensuring that administrators, managers, and supervisors are familiar with and actively encourage the use of tools and techniques for supporting staff and their families during times of crisis (see S11-IV.A and Appendix 3) Training staff in hospitals and occupational health clinics (e.g., social workers, psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, counselors) in behavioral techniques to help employees cope with grief, stress, exhaustion, anger, and fear during an emergency (see S11-IV.A and Appendix 3) If feasible, providing training in psychological support services to persons who are not behavioral health professionals (e.g., primary-care clinicians, emergency department staff, medical/surgical staff, safety and security personnel, behavioral health staff, chaplains, community leaders, staff of cultural and faith-based organizations) ‘’‘Identifying additional resources that can be available to employees and their families during and after a pandemic Developing strategies to assist staff who have child-care or elder-care responsibilities or other special needs that might affect their ability to work during a pandemic’‘’
Preparing workforce support materials
Employers of response workers and providers of essential services should obtain or prepare workforce support materials (in hard copy or electronic format) for distribution during a pandemic. These materials should be designed to do the following:
Educate and inform employees about emotional responses they might experience or observe in their colleagues and families (including children) during an influenza pandemic and about techniques for coping with these emotions (see Appendix 3).
Educate employees about the importance of developing “family communication plans” so that family members can maintain contact during an emergency.
Describe workforce support services that will be available during an emergency, including confidential behavioral health services and employee assistance programs.
Answer questions about infection control practices to prevent the spread of pandemic influenza in the workplace (see Supplement 4) and employment issues related to illness, sick pay, staff rotation, and family concerns.
Healthcare institutions should be prepared to provide materials that address healthcare and training issues related to pandemic influenza (see S11-IV.B). To support these efforts, CDC, HRSA, NIH, and SAMHSA will collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security, other federal agencies, and nongovernmental organizations to identify or develop educational materials on:
‘’‘Stressors related to pandemic influenza
Signs of distress
Traumatic grief
Psychosocial aspects related to management of mass fatalities
Stress management and coping strategies
Strategies for building and sustaining personal resilience
Behavioral and psychological support resources
Strategies for helping children and families in times of crisis
Strategies for working with highly agitated patients ‘’‘…
Handing out materials during a pandemic won’t be as effective as telling the public to get ready for one while they have time to now…
Strategies for building and sustaining personal resilience need to be acted on now to mitigate mass fatalities, (the management thereof details need a lot of work, yesterday is not too soon, discussed with faith groups and the public), to reduce the number of highly agitated families in crisis with traumatic grief …
because people knew and didn’t warn them - I know I have permanently lost respect and trust for certain individuals and institutions in this pre-pandemic alert period; I can only imagine what the understandable public outrage during- and post- reaction will be.
Not a darn thing is being done at my office. We are a well know internet company. I started talking with people in March,sent them links to learn more. No one followed up or got back to me. I talked with each individual person at the office.
The first time I gave them the link to fluwikie—the site went down the next day and couldn’t access it for a long time, but I doubt that had much to do with their attitude.
98% of the people I work with have kids that are between the ages of 10 thru 28. My VP told me if its G*ds will then so be it. The CFO said this is the most watched virus ever and he believed its over blown and if it does happen we will have a month or more to prepare. SIGH I gave him detailed information, handouts, flyers, charts…He avoids me now and it was a really low key meeting we had. Most have the attitude of “what-ever”
I’m waiting for the day they tell me that I use to many paper towels when drying my hands at teh sinks.
Not going to worry about them anymore. I now have a confirmed 5 other people who will be staying with me, my next door neighbors are informed and preparing too, thats more then I expected several months ago.