APEC Ministers Launch Pandemic Flu Planning Guide for SMEs
APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministers (SME) have launched a Pandemic Flu Planning Guide for Small Businesses. The guide is intended as a straightforward checklist to help businesses to plan ahead and protect their staff and businesses in the event of a pandemic flu.
Presenting the guide to the APEC SME Ministerial Meeting for endorsement today, Ms. Lisa Koonin from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, highlighted the importance of small business planning before a pandemic occurs.
"All businesses will be affected in the event of a pandemic flu," Ms. Koonin said at the SME Working Group Meeting.
"Often SMEs are the least prepared to deal with emergencies such as a pandemic outbreak, and if people wait until the last minute to plan, it will be too late.
"People can plan right now to protect themselves, their families, and their businesses from pandemic flu and we hope this planning guide will provide the basis of this preparedness."
To ensure simplicity the guide is separated into three sections that cover the areas of making plans to stay in business, protect employees' health and make preparations in their homes.
"Businesses should also identify what protections might be in place to ensure the safety of staff in the workplace," Ms. Koonin said.
This includes ensuring that staff who are sick do not come to work and expose others to the illness, planning to prevent people from congregating in large groups, and promoting good hygiene practices such as frequent hand washing."
"Businesses operators also need to look at how they will deal with the interruptions to their business in the event of a pandemic flu. This includes preparing plans for dealing with supply chains disruptions, planning for employees being unable to come to work (due to personal or family illness, or school closure) and the possibility of reduced sales if customers choose to stay away from shops and public places.
"Finally, preparation for SME operators and employees should start with being prepared at home, including making sure there is a good supply of resources at home, such as water and non-perishable food, soap, flashlights, and other essential goods."
The APEC Pandemic Flu Planning Guide was prepared in conjunction with the United States Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The one page guide is available in English, with Member Economies encouraged to translate into other languages. The guide and a news photograph of Ms. Koonin are available for download and use by the media from the APEC website.
The 14th APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting was held in Hobart on March 8-9.