People and Crisis Ma..
Transcript of People and Crisis Ma..
Planning for the People Side of Risk Management
Preparing for and Managing Pandemic, Epidemic or Infectious Disease Outbreak
Business Resumption Planners Association
July 15, 2008
Aon Risk Services and Aon Consulting Ken Groh, Vice President Communication Consulting
People at Risk
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Agenda
People at Risk
Issues
Developing a Strategy
Questions
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People at Risk
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Sarah Smith’s Story On December 13, 2007, Sarah landed at O’Hare’s
International Terminal on an American Airlines flight from New Delhi, India Sarah grabbed dinner at a restaurant on her way to Terminal 3 where she grabbed a flight to San Francisco.
A week after landing in San Francisco, she showed up at Stanford Hospital with a high fever, chest pains and coughing up blood – she was diagnosed with XDR-TB, the abbreviation for extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, a rare form of TB that is highly contagious and difficult to treat.
After months in isolation, Sarah was recently released where she will remain quarantined in her home for weeks. She will need to stay on drugs for at least two years to eradicate the disease.
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Sarah Smith’s Story Although the name is not real, the story is true.
But it’s not over. Sarah knew she had TB in India but traveled anyway.
After identifying 44 people who were at risk to exposure to XDR-TB during Sarah’s flight to Chicago, the CDH tested about half of them and uncovered a second case of XDR-TB, a woman who sat next to Sarah.
But what about the people she interacted with at O’Hare or during the week before she went to Stanford Hospital?
Source: wwwfoxnews.com
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Infectious Diseases Put People at Risk
Various infectious diseases can impact an organization’s employees and productivity
– SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
– Norwalk-like viruses (NLVs)
– Legionnaires Disease
– Avian flu pandemic
– Seasonal flu
What if one third to one-half of your workers didn’t show up to work?
– For several weeks?
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Infectious Diseases Put People at Risk
Consider what’s at risk
– Employees who can’t come to work because of illness or need to care for family
– Customers who can’t or are reluctant to access products or services
– Supply chain unable to function at optimum or even minimum levels
– Business continuity
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People at Risk
SARsEpidemic
FluPandemic
Spread Local. An epidemic spread by an airline passenger
Global. A pandemic by definition infects 25% globally – about 3 a century
Mortality Low. 8,500 cases and 800 deaths
High. Smallest pandemic killed 1 million; largest killed 26 million in 26 weeks
Time Period One wave, nine months Three waves, longest pandemic lasted three years
Transmissibility Low, with high fatality. No human immunity
High with high fatality. No human immunity
Impact on Air Travel
Minor. Hong Kong delayed 80% of flights over 10 weeks
Major. Global transportation limited or shut down in some countries
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Issues
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Some Questions
Do you have a business continuity plan?
Do you have a crisis communication plan?
Do you know who owns these plans in your firm?
Do you know if your key partners have either or both plans?
Do you know the impact of value chain disruptions?
Does your crisis management and business continuity plan address large-scale absenteeism or is it more focused on facility disruption?
Have you tested or piloted your crisis management plan if one-third to one-half of your work force couldn’t be at work?
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The Impact of a Pandemic Absenteeism
– What if 30% to 60% of your work force can’t or won’t come to work?– How would your suppliers and vendors be affected?
Supply chain/infrastructure interruptions– What if supply chain is disrupted? What are your alternatives? – What if supplies of water, food, medical products, fuel are limited? – What if utilities were disrupted?– What if machinery and equipment break down? Do you have a
stockpile of key parts? What about service alternatives? Business continuity
– What products/services would be affected? – How would you continue operations/services to maintain revenue
stream?
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Planning Assumptions
Worst-case scenario: About 30% of the population will be affected; higher is some areas than others
Schools and public facilities will be closed
Transportation will be restricted
Health care facilities will be overwhelmed
Limited assistance from state and federal governments due to nationwide impact
Pharmaceuticals may be restricted or unavailable
Who will help?
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Developing a Strategy
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Risk Management Process
1. Create a task force of stakeholders
2. Research: Consider the issues and create scenarios
3. Conduct a risk assessment and gap analysis
4. Confirm enterprise-wide
5. Create recommendations
6. Train and test
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Develop a Task Force
Supply Chain/
Distribution & Sales
Executive Mgmt
Security/Safety
Risk Mgmt
Legal
IT
HR / Medical
Mfg. Facilities/
Operations
BCP/Crisis Planning
Discovery Process
Communication
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A Few Critical Issues to Consider
Critical Issues
Employee Health and Welfare
Brand Image & Value
Supply Chain Disruptions &
Associated Impact
Revenue & Cash Flow Erosion
What staff functions can be performed at home?
What skill sets are essential? Who can be cross trained to prepare for absenteeism?
How can you protect your brand? What is the message to shareholders and the business community?
What assurances do you have from your supply chain? What is essential? What should be stockpiled?
What non-essential functions can be suspended? What revenue stream needs to be protected?
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Potential Project Steps
1. Risk Assessment & Gap Analysis
2. Deep Dive – Enterprise-wide Confirmation of Risk and Solutions
3. Recommendations and Action Plan
a. Business Continuity
b. People Element (Human Resources Policy and Communication Plan)
c. Documentation
d. Training and Testing
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Risk Assessment and Gap Analysis
Identify risks – Employee Safety: Uncover threats to human health
– Business Continuity: Identify business interruption
Conduct gap analysis for risk mitigation– Review existing documentation
– Interview key stakeholders
– Audit current HR policies and crisis communication plan
Outcome: High-level risk identification and solution strategy
Step 1
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Deep Dive – Enterprise-wide Confirmation of Risk and Solutions
Model risk impact and mitigation strategies
Prioritize on an operations basis
– Meet with key managers
– Conduct group exercises to build consensus
Outcome: Prioritize business risks and action steps to mitigate risk and support business continuity
Step 2
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Step 3
Recommendations and Action Plan
Develop Business Continuity Planning Recommendations
– Once exposure areas are prioritized, create recommendations for existing or new business continuity and crisis planning strategies
– Discuss with BCP owners and policy makers to confirm
Outcome: Business continuity plan, people management plan, risk-specific crisis communication plan, documentation and training/testing strategy
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Case Study
Situation A Life Sciences company with a critical product asked for
assistance in developing a pandemic preparedness plan
Approach Created a task force representing sales, operations,
corporate communication, Human Resources and risk management
Assessed the current risk exposure to a pandemic and business continuity issues through focus group process (absenteeism and supply chain disruption)
Prioritized action steps to develop strategy for pandemic preparedness
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Case Study Approach (continued) Developed a pandemic supplement for crisis communication
plan Created a local and global simulation to test pandemic crisis
response Developed management and employee communication to
create awareness of pandemic preparedness and corporate/local response
Outcome Identified exposure and current preparedness/response
gaps Developed a crisis communication plan Trained responders
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Why This Process Works
People-focused solution
Research-based solution
Comprehensive, covering – Risk identification and management
– Business continuity and recovery and
– Crisis management and communication
Clearly identified ownership and roles for rapid response
Consensus-based, enterprise-wide strategy
Global crisis communication plan with local elements
Tested model accelerates recovery
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Questions