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NEMA has received a request from the Department of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and the Department of Commerce to alert its members about the risks of an influenza pandemic and the need to be prepared should such a disaster occur.

NEMA Chairman Tim Powers says in the February issue of electroindustry:

“The industry needs to respond if we are to keep our businesses running and our employees protected during a potential breakout in this country or places overseas where we do business.”

The past three pandemics, in 1918, 1957, and 1968, killed approximately 40 million, two million, and one million people worldwide, respectively.

The private sector’s most valuable contribution at this time would be in the form of preparedness and communication. NEMA will do what it can to facilitate, starting with encouraging its members to begin the planning process.

The National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza published by the Homeland Security Council in November, 2005, notes “The private sector should plan an integral role in preparedness before a pandemic begins, and should be part of a national response.”

What can your company do to meet this potential threat?

The report says the U.S. private sector has several tasks before it if it is to effectively prepare for an influenza pandemic:

• Establishing an ethic of infection control in the workplace that is reinforced during the annual influenza season, to include, if possible, options for working offsite while ill, systems to reduce infection transmission, and worker education.
  
• Establishing contingency systems to maintain delivery of essential goods and services during times of significant and sustained worker absenteeism.
  
• Where possible, establishing mechanisms to allow workers to provide services from home if public health officials advise against non-essential travel outside the home.

• Establishing partnerships with other members of the sector to provide mutual support and maintenance of essential services during a pandemic.

More detailed information on the strategy, including a business-planning checklist, can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/pandemic-influenza.html

Other resources:

PandemicFlu.gov: the official U.S. government Web site for information on pandemic flu and avian influenza

http://pandemicflu.gov/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

http://www.cdc.gov/

U.S. Department of Homeland Security:

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=34&content=4919

Department of Health and Human Services

http://www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/

National Institutes of Health

http://www.nih.gov/

Related News

On March 8, Dr. Myles Druckman, vice president of medical assistance for the Americas, International SOS, presented a webcast, “Avian Flu: What Companies Need to Know."
Read a summary.
View the presentation.

What steps did your company take to prepare for a possible pandemic?

Send your stories to NEMA Communications and we’ll share them with our members and web visitors.