Singapore, Monday, 11 May 2009 - In response to the onset of the Influenza A H1N1 outbreak in Mexico, the US and other countries in late April, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) jointly organized a timely briefing today to help Singapore employers to be business ready should a flu pandemic manifests itself here.
Giving the 1,050 participants an overview of the global, regional and local updates on the Influenza A H1N1 virus were Dr. Igno Neu, Regional Advisor and Head of Avian and Human Influenza Unit, United Nation Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Regional Office for Asia & Pacific; and Dr. Arthur Chern, Group Director, Health Regulation, Ministry of Health, Singapore.
Dr. Chern said MOH has stocked up enough medical supplies to treat the Singapore resident population with about 1.15 million courses of Tamiflu and 50,000 courses of Relenza if the need arises. As of 11 May 2009, the MOH had downgraded the Disease Outbreak Response System Alert from Orange to Yellow. The current flu strain is viewed as milder than previously feared, but MOH will constantly review and adjust their response accordingly.
Elaborating more on the Tripartite Advisory on Workplace Measures issued on 30 April 2009 was Mr. Lau Weng Hong, Deputy Director, Labour Relations, Ministry of Manpower. For employees on Home Quarantine Orders, he recommended that this period be treated as paid hospitalization leave. He urged employers to exercise flexibility and compassion for those who have used up their hospitalization leave and granting additional paid hospitalization leave, bearing in mind that their employees may be facing financial difficulties.
Giving local companies insights on how to get their Business Continuity Management (BCM) plan up to cope with the Influenza A was Dr. Goh Moh Heng, President, BCM Institute. He urged participants that as BCM professionals, they need to have the mindset that "it (pandemic) will happen". Dr. Goh introduced the 6 "R"s approach for the Pandemic Business Continuity Plan - Reduce, Respond, Recover and Resume, Restore and Return.
The 6 "R"s approach for Pandemic Business Continuity Plan presented by Dr. Goh
1. Reduction
a. Monitor and gain knowledge
b. Establish decision making & response structure
c. Maintain staff dispersion plan
d. Review IT support infrastructure
e. Inculcate personal hygiene
f. Communication
g. Review and refine policies, e.g. Human resource policies
2. Response
i. Isolation
ii. Contact Tracing
iii. Decontamination
b. Prepare to activate essential business continuity measures
c. Crisis Management
d. Crisis communication
3. Recover and Resume
a. Focus on employees' welfare and availability
b. Activate measures to minimize introduction and spread in work place
i. Maintain social distancing
ii. Manage ill staff members
iii. Cleaning of workplace cleaning
c. Activate process for recovered and well staff members to return to work.
d. Enhance travel monitoring of staff
e. Update travel policies for hot spots
f. Monitor staff who have been issued quarantine orders by the authorities
g. Separate those who are immunized from those who are not immunized
h. Provide support for ill employers and their family members.
4. Restore and Return
Business Continuity Management/Planning presented by Dr. Neu and Mr. Lau
1. Establish a pandemic/contingency planning team
a. During the Orange alert
i. Conduct temperature screening for employees and visitors to the workplace as well as prepare the registration list.
ii. Appoint a flu manager.
iii. Review work practices to minimize the mixing of staff.
iv. Require staff to declare their plans to travel to affected areas.
v. Monitor staff who have fallen ill or are quarantined.
vi. Record identities of all visitors and external participants in meetings.
vii. Identify designated staff alternatives to key staff, especially those in management positions.
viii. Identify mission=critical functions and develop work arrangements to ensure continuity of those functions.
ix. An agency providing essential services might need to consider invoking any relevant or applicable legislation to ensure service continuity
2. Identify your business' core services, essential staff and skills.
3. Plan for staff absences; consider effects of supply shortages, lack or excess demand on operations.
b. Consider time-off, flexible work arrangements for staff with flu-like symptoms.
4. Develop measures for maintaining services (Human Resource, IT, relocation, etc.)
5. Identify critical interdependencies with other sectors
6. Test your plan, revise it and know when to activate and when to de-activate it.
Q&A session
During the question and answer session, one participant asked the panel, made up of SBF CEO Mr. Teng Theng Dar, Dr. Neu, Dr. Chern and MOM's Mr. Ng Chun Pin, Director, Tripartite Programme and International Relations, whether there were restrictions on food ingredients imported from Mexico. Dr. Chern replied that the Influenza virus is unable to survive the long journey outside a human or animal host.
Other participants queried on the quarantine process. Dr. Goh cautioned for the business community to differentiate between alleged and confirmed cases, as the latter would refer to those confirmed by clinical tests, whereas the former would be people who show signs of having fever and flu-like symptoms and had travelled to the affected areas. He advised employers to prepare an isolation area in the work place, ask the suspected case to put on a mask, and conduct contact tracing. On the other hand, Dr. Chern urged participants not to be paranoid and to follow MOH's guidelines on protecting their workers in such scenarios.
Useful links for updates on Influenza A H1N1 advisory
Ministry of Health, Singapore
www.moh.gov.sg or
www.flu.gov.sg
Hotline: 1800-333 9999
FAQs
http://www.crisis.gov.sg/ or http://www.crisis.gov.sg/FLU/InfluenzaA/FAQ/
Queries on Tripartite Advisory
MOM: mom_ldr@mom.gov.sg
SNEF: flu@snef.org.sg
NTUC: ntucird@ntuc.org.sg
Implementing Business Continuity Plans (BCPs)
Singapore Business Federation: bcm@sbf.org.sg (68276867)
Health Promotion Board, Singapore
www.hpb.gov.sg
World Health Organisation
www.who.int/en/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov/swineflu
For an update on SBF programmes and activities, look up "Upcoming Events" on the SBF website,
www.sbf.org.sg.
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