Is your business prepared for flu season?

The government is encouraging businesses to look ahead to the upcoming fall and winter flu season and to make plans to minimize the flu's effects on business productivity. Flu season may be worse this year due to the H1N1 or swine flu which still has not been effectively brought under control.

Some actions being suggested by government officials:

* Encourage vulnerable workers to get the flu vaccine as soon as it becomes available (pregnant women, health care providers, older individuals, and those with asthma, for example).

* Clean work areas, stock up on hand sanitizers, encourage frequent hand washing.

* Send workers home at the first sign of flu symptoms, and encourage them to stay home for at least 24 hours after fever abates.

* Consider staggering work shifts or letting employees work at home if a company-wide outbreak seems likely.

Your business should also consider developing a plan for operating if a flu pandemic strikes. The U.S. government has started to plan for the consequences of a pandemic, but in the chaos that would accompany a serious outbreak of flu, your business can't rely only on the government. At this point, it's probably too early to make concrete plans. But it's not too early to start thinking about the possible effects on your business and how you would deal with them.

Consider the following issues:

* Loss of employees. How would you cope if perhaps 25% of your employees were sick and unable to report for work? How would your business be affected?

* Quarantined employees. What would happen if a significant number of your employees were quarantined and unable to report to work? Could they work from home? It's quite possible that compulsory quarantine would be imposed if an area is affected by an outbreak.

* Loss of a supplier. How would you be affected if a major supplier lost employees and cut back production? How much inventory do you keep on hand?

* Disruption in shipping. A pandemic could well disrupt transportation and shipping. This could affect both your supplies of materials and your ability to ship a product.

* Loss of communications. In a worst case, telephone and/or Internet service could be interrupted. How would this affect your ability to do business?

The potential problems and the solutions to them are different for every business. There are certainly no easy answers. But the businesses that come through a pandemic in the best shape will be those that have done their planning! Make a start by assessing your vulnerabilities and thinking of possible responses.