Not sure where to put this so here goes.

We have been tasked by our major customer with devising a response plan to a possible Avian Flu Pandemic.
Of course we in the USA have not been exposed as of yet but it's only a matter of time.

Anyone else had to do this?
What have you done?

I've gotten a lot of info from the customer and from CDC but would appreciate others input.

I am particularly interested in small company implementation (50 to 100 people)

Thanks for any and all input.

James:thanx:

So did we, James. Just last Friday one of our major customers requested our Avian Flu Plan. We are 65 employees. I'm not sure what we'll do - I forwarded that email straight to the Plant Manager. :D

Not sure where to put this so here goes.

We have been tasked by our major customer with devising a response plan to a possible Avian Flu Pandemic.
Of course we in the USA have not been exposed as of yet but it's only a matter of time.

Anyone else had to do this?
What have you done?

I've gotten a lot of info from the customer and from CDC but would appreciate others input.

I am particularly interested in small company implementation (50 to 100 people)

Thanks for any and all input.

James:thanx:

It seems a bit premature to be asking for contingency plans, because epidemiolgists haven't had a good chance yet to be able to make predictions, and some of the early data may be misleading. There's an interesting article here (http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/09/h5n1_influenza.html) written by Tara Smith (http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/academics/faculty/tara_smith.html), an assistant professor at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health.

I'm really tired of hearing about another person and some cat dieing from this flu. What, maybe 100 people or so thus far? What percentage is that of the world's population? How many types of flu are there? How many die from these hundreds/thousands of other types but noone talks about it?

I'd bet our plan is to either use vacation days or keep working, because we get no sick days.......

Jerry:rolleyes:

I'm really tired of hearing about another person and some cat dieing from this flu. What, maybe 100 people or so thus far? What percentage is that of the world's population? How many types of flu are there? How many die from these hundreds/thousands of other types but noone talks about it?

I'd bet our plan is to either use vacation days or keep working, because we get no sick days.......

Jerry:rolleyes:


Gee Jerry, really sorry to add to your stress level on a Monday. :whip: :mg:

I really think this is about more than just Avian Flu. With the world situation as it is, and the threats of some sort of chemical or biological attack/catastrophe, it really only makes sense to have some sort of plan in place.

As far as this particlular flu goes it may only be a few people, but humans have little defense against it. Should it become transmitable via human contact it could spread worldwide in a matter of days due to modern modes of travel. While I agree that there is pehaps too much media attention paid to it, I also know that it won't be prevented by downplaying the potential.

Some kind of pandemic is likely coming. It isn't a question of if. It's a question of what and when.

James

Have you asked your major customer to share their plan with your company? Tell them that you would like to model your plan on theirs.

It seems to me that your plan should not be for this specific incident, but rather for a wide range of yet unknown, possible events. The plan should try to anticipate everything from a tornado or fire wiping out your facility, to hazardous spills by a neighboring facility, etc.

Wes R.

Have you asked your major customer to share their plan with your company? Tell them that you would like to model your plan on theirs.
Wes R.

Excellent suggestion, Wes.:agree1:

Have you asked your major customer to share their plan with your company? Tell them that you would like to model your plan on theirs.

It seems to me that your plan should not be for this specific incident, but rather for a wide range of yet unknown, possible events. The plan should try to anticipate everything from a tornado or fire wiping out your facility, to hazardous spills by a neighboring facility, etc.

Wes R.

Yes they have. I have been reviewing it this morning. Of course this plan is for a huge corporation with multiple facilities and I have to try to pare it down to our level.

Also I wholeheartedly agree that the plan should cover a multiple of possible contingencies and not confine itself to the Avian Flu.

Thanks for the help.

James

I'm really tired of hearing about another person and some cat dieing from this flu. What, maybe 100 people or so thus far? What percentage is that of the world's population? How many types of flu are there? How many die from these hundreds/thousands of other types but noone talks about it?

I'd bet our plan is to either use vacation days or keep working, because we get no sick days.......

Jerry:rolleyes:

It doesn't seem like much so far...but half of the 100 people died from it. That ratio is sobering. In the last month or two it has spread across Asia and Europe. I wouldn't write this one off just yet.

It is always a good idea to plan how you should handle a significant catastrophe. It would be doubly bad if it also puts companies out of business.

Don't forget to include a SARS outbreak...

Southpark:

"Randy: Listen to me Stanley. I have SARS. There's only a 98% percent chance that I will live.
Stan: No Dad, No!"

Jerry

It doesn't seem like much so far...but half of the 100 people died from it. That ratio is sobering.

Particularly if it is one of your relations! 100 probably does not sound like a lot in relation to the population of the world - but to an individual it is devastating.

It doesn't seem like much so far...but half of the 100 people died from it. That ratio is sobering.

Have a look at the article I linked to in my earlier post. Among other things, it points out the fact that at this stage, the mortality results are very probably misleading, one reason being that the people who die are also the ones most likely to have been the sickest and sought medical treatment, and medical providers are the prime source of the data. There could be tens of thousands (or more) untreated, unreported cases that are non-fatal.

For a little perspective, the CDC compiles weekly data on deaths from pneumonia and flu from 121 US cities. The data for one recent week may be seen here (http://wonder.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_reps.asp). The data indicate that for all deaths reported, flu and pneumonia accounted for about 7% of the total. That's 870 deaths in one week, with only 121 cities reporting.

There is good reason for concern about avian flu, but there is no reason for panic, and no good reason for companies to be asking their suppliers for contingency plans specific to avian flu at this point.

......There is good reason for concern about avian flu, but there is no reason for panic, and no good reason for companies to be asking their suppliers for contingency plans specific to avian flu at this point.

Jim,
I suspect that in our case it is the fact that our customer is a multi-national firm with plants that are in or near effected areas now and they ship product all over the world. It may be that they are required by some other governments to have plans in place.
In any event they have supplied us with their plan which makes it much easier to create a plan of our own.

I have thinned it down some and made it more generic to make it more applicable to our company. I gave a draft to the owner for his perusal and I'm sure it will be pared some more.

If nothing else it has been an interesting and educational excersize.:read:

James

Hi All,

I was given this presentation by a friend and I think it's worthwhile to share it here. ;)

I've take out the company name of the original sender.

bye

cheer

Over in this region, the American Chamber of Commerce works very closely with the various government regarding the potential threat of avian flu. The Singapore chapter had been particularly active and the Singapore government agencies had co-operated very well.

Still, there are strategic issues to look into. After the SARs episode, a number of MNCs made major strategic changes. Gone are the days when 100% of their products are manufactured in low-cost China. One organization I know of has this 70/30 rule. 30% of their goods are now manufactured outside China whereas previously, it was 100%. They are just not putting the eggs into one basket!

Depending on your business, this may be one of the factors that you need to look at to ensure minimal disruption.

cheahga from Msia: thanks for the presentation :)

i have attached a guide from Singapore, hope it helps :bigwave:

Thanks to cheahga and kei_ko for the excellent presentations. I, for one am, going to save them to my HD.

Glad to hear from some folks in East Asia. Here in North America we can be rather overly confident (I might say cocky) about our ability to resist a pandemic. Many people just don't realize how thin our lines of defense really are. The more I read about these kinds of health issues the more I realize the real need for us all to become educated in the basic methods of fighting a flu pandemic. Things like hygene and face masks and quarantine etc.

We have gotten so use to popping a magic pill to fix things that we've forgotten the basics, or maybe just think of them as old fashioned. This has happened even in hospitals where staph infections crop up because of poor sanitary practices by the staff. Well folks it's time to remember what Momma use to say, - "Button up your overcoat", "Stay Warm", "Don't go out without your goloshes", "Wear your Hat", "Cover your mouth when you cough".........etc.

A pandemic, by nature, is going to severely stress our institutions abilities to deal with the numbers of sick people. We already hear of antibiotic resistance, and lack of production capability for vaccines. The biggest and best thing we can do is to not get sick ourselves and do all we can to prevent others from getting sick.

Ben Franklin said, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

When our customer first asked about this I thought, "Here is another worthless, make work project." Now that I have looked into it some I realize how critical it is for private industry to be prepared and to get ahead of the game. Not only to protect our business and our customers, but to protect our children, families and communities.

OH my - There I go with my :soap: again.

Basically I wanted to thank cheahga and kei_ko for their input and hope they and others from effected areas will share their insights with us.

James

Thanks to cheahga and kei_ko for the excellent presentations. I, for one am, going to save them to my HD.
Likewise. As it happens, we currently have cases popping up all over our east and south coasts: Dead and sick birds have been found to be infected with the virus, and restrictions are in place around the hot spots. At the moment, the risk for humans is still considered very slim, and thus far no action is being taken to protect the population. As we all know however, that can change and people are worried. A couple of months ago this was considered a very remote problem, and now we have it in our backyard.

Still, this is but one of many risks we face. One day we will have another pandemic, but who knows when and what? Time will tell.

/Claes

JRKH,

Thanks for sharing your thought.

Kei Ko,

Thanks for your presentation as well.

I have been reading this thread with interest, particularly as my son has just applied for a co-op position to develop an avian flu contingency plan for a utility services provider.

If there is one thing that the quality profession has taught me, it is to plan for all contingencies, and to respect Murphy's law. No sense in evaluating and measuring risks associated with our processes but ignoring or downplaying potential risks to the workforce itself.

In my role as the Quality Manager, I am going to encourage the development of plan now in the hopes that it will never be needed. From what I have read, by the time the threat is real, there will be no time for planning.

Barb

You betta get quacking!!!!:lmao:

Been following this post, thinking, this won't happen to me, safe and sound in SOuth Wales UK. I then asked some key staff "what if our 4 main suppliers couldn't supply us with the volumes we need?" We would be deeply in the mire was the answer. As a direct result, I'm going to be writing to our supplliers asking what provisions they have made. We may only be a small company, but we rely on supplies from USA, Japan and Germany.
Paul

:thanx:

We may only be a small company, but we rely on supplies from USA, Japan and Germany.... and if I'm not mistaken, the virus is in Germany already?

/Claes

... and if I'm not mistaken, the virus is in Germany already?

/Claes

According to the last map I saw it has been confirmed in wild birds in Germany but not in poultry. It has been found in poultry in France.

Later I'll post a couple of links for those interested.

James

I've just found this on the site www.internationalsos.com

Last Updated: March 10, 2006 00:44 GMT

GERMANY

Areas affected
Germany first detected H5N1 in mid-February 2006. Two swans and one hawk were infected on the island of Ruegen. Within a week, the disease quickly spread over the island. A total of 59 cases occurred within the first week the disease was discovered there. A state of catastrophe was declared in the sparsely populated resort island.

Ruegen is in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Two birds on the mainland portion of that state were discovered infected within days. The disease spread to wild ducks in three more states by February 28: the northwestern state of Schleswig-Holstein, the southwestern state of Baden Wuerttemberg, the eastern state of Brandenburg (which surrounds Berlin) and the southern state of Bavaria.

Germany also found the disease among three cats in February. All were found in Reugen, near Schaprode. In early March, Germany announced a second mammalian species infected with the disease. A sick stone marten was discovered on Ruegen, again in the Schaprode area. This animal is part of the weasel family, and is presumed to have been infected through feeding on infected birds. It is the first time avian flu has been detected in this species.

Feline species are known to be susceptible to bird flu, and it is possible that the cat acquired the infection from eating an infected bird. Residents have been advised to keep domestic cats indoors and avoid contact with stray cats.

In early March, Lower Saxony became the sixth German state to report the disease among birds. As of March 9, the disease was detected in 125 wild birds.

No poultry is allowed to move into or out of affected areas, and Germany's declared a nationwide ban on keeping poultry outdoors. They hope keeping domestic birds inside will prevent contact with wild birds and thus prevent the animals from becoming infected with avian flu.

Human cases
Germany has not reported any human cases of avian influenza.


Makes you think!
:eek:

Here are the links our supplier sent to us.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian

http://www.fluwicki.com/

Feline species are known to be susceptible to bird flu, and it is possible that the cat acquired the infection from eating an infected bird. Residents have been advised to keep domestic cats indoors and avoid contact with stray cats.


It's interesting that the "lowest" form of life (and biologists question whether viruses even qualify for that designation) has the capacity to wreak havoc with the normally well-ordered food chain.

Thank you
Paul

I had a request for more info on the planning so I decided to attach an edited copy of the cover letter we recieved. Included is a World Health Organization description of Pandemic stages. Plus a link to a planning checklist from the US CDC.

Hope this helps anyone interested.

James