Planning Scenario

The analysis required for pandemic preparedness planning is not fundamentally different from that required for all hazard planning – it just stretches over a longer period of impact. Unlike many other catastrophic events, an influenza pandemic will not directly affect the physical infrastructure of an organization. While a pandemic will not damage power lines, buildings, or computer networks, it will ultimately threaten all critical infrastructures by its impact on the University’s human resources by removing essential personnel from the workplace for weeks or months. All U of M units should prepare continuity plans that include considerations for protecting the health and safety of employees during pandemic conditions as well as how critical operations will be maintained during prolonged periods of staff shortage.

The Federal Government recommends that government entities and the private sector plan with the assumption that up to 40 percent of their staff may be absent for periods of about 2 weeks at the height of a pandemic wave with lower levels of staff absent for a few weeks on either side of the peak. In addition, a review of prior pandemic conditions indicates there may be multiple waves of illness as the disease sweeps across the country. Staff may be absent for many reasons, including conditions where they:

• Care for the ill within their family.
• Are under voluntary home quarantine due to an ill household member.
• Care for children dismissed from school.
• Are afraid to come to work and feel safer at home.
• Are ill or incapacitated by the virus.

Because the movement of essential personnel, goods and services, and the maintenance of critical infrastructure are necessary during an event that spans weeks to months in any given community, effective continuity planning including protection of personnel during an influenza pandemic is a “good business practice” that must become part of the fundamental mission of the University units. During your planning remember that reliance on vendors for support may be limited in that they will likely suffer staffing shortages similar to what we face.