Whilst previous pandemic planning assumed that there would be weeks between a World Health Organization Phase 4 and Phase 5 pandemic alert declaration, in reality, there were only two days (April 27-29). Because of the speed of the outbreak, unprepared organizations had insufficient time to respond to the business continuity challenges it posed.
Further, many organizations built their pandemic planning assumptions around the World Health Organization pandemic alert system, which tied phase increases to how widespread the pandemic is, rather than its severity. In situations of high infection rates – and associated high levels of absenteeism - but relatively low severity, what should organizations use as their “trigger” for activating their pandemic business continuity plans?
The costs to business of pandemics are enormous. The World Bank has estimated that even a moderate outbreak could cost the global economy USD 2 trillion. The threat from this current pandemic has not yet subsided - there will be a mutating virus circulating the world for at least the next 9-18 months and history suggests there will be 3-4 new pandemic outbreaks each century.
One of the key lessons learnt from this outbreak has been that organizations need to act now to put in place policies, processes and procedures that minimize the costs to their business of a pandemic. Control Risks has recently produced a number of reports for clients outlining the key business continuity lessons learnt, and advising them of some of the steps they can take to protect their organization.
Contact enquiries@control-risks.com for further information on how Control Risks can help you prepare for the next waves of the virus.
The World Health Organization
The US Center for Disease Control Prevention
International SOS' Pandemic Information Service
A Control Risks case study
