Created by the team at CommAlert
Biological problem, specifically pandemic response procedures, are designed to ensure the health and safety of staff and define the specific roles, processes, and systems necessary to support ongoing operations. Response to a pandemic is different from a natural or human induced disaster as it impacts the human infrastructure. A pandemic creates high absenteeism rates resulting in decreased productivity.
A pandemic is a worldwide outbreak of a specific disease which affects a large proportion of the population. During emergencies, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) operational role includes leading and coordinating the health response in support of countries, undertaking risk assessments, identifying priorities and setting strategies, providing critical technical guidance, supplies and financial resources as well as monitoring the health situation. WHO also helps countries to strengthen their national core capacities for emergency risk management to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies due to any hazard that pose a threat to human health security. More information can be found at: http://www.who.int/en/
The federal, provincial and territorial governments in Canada work together on pandemic preparedness, although each jurisdiction is responsible for their own plans. Â The Government of Alberta has also released a Best Practice Guideline for Workplace Health and Safety during Pandemic Influenza.
The team at CommAlert has built this Pandemic Response Plan template for organizations, and you can download it free of charge.