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Monday, November 16, 2009
Bracing for an outbreak
By Winthrop Quigley
Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal Journal Staff Writer
No one knows how bad the H1N1 flu pandemic will get and some businesses aren't waiting to find out. They have begun implementing plans to protect employees from illness and to keep their companies operating even if flu keeps a lot of workers out of the office.
In light of startling new statistics released last week — the CDC said swine flu has sickened 22 million and killed nearly 4,000, including 540 children in the United States since April — here's how three companies plan to literally keep the lights on, or keep making medical devices and accommodate millions of travelers.
Jean Richey, PNM Resources director of general services, said the company has continuity plans for a number of possibilities, from toxic chemical spills to the failure of major transmission lines. PNM already had a plan to respond to the 2006 avian flu panic that began as a flu outbreak in Asia. The company updated it for H1N1.
"Instead of a wave from Asia, we found (H1N1) knocking on the door in Mexico," Richey said. "It was widespread, and it was fast.
"We need to try to ensure employee safety and health, and we need to keep the (electric utility) system running because it is critical infrastructure," Richey said.
The plan identifies the functions that are critical to keep consumers' lights on, Richey said. Those are functions that generate, transmit and distribute electricity and that are needed to respond to emergencies.
PNM's plan identifies what skills personnel need to perform those functions and who has the skills. The state's largest utility looked at its supply chain to identify the resources it absolutely must have to keep electricity flowing. A plan to communicate with employees, suppliers and the public was developed. PNM's human resources team has developed mechanisms to track flu cases if they occur and will be able to identify if any one area of the company is hit especially hard.
"If we were critically hit, if we had a lot of employee absenteeism, we would pare down our work to only the bare essentials," Richey said. Contractors would be hired and supervisors would be assigned to work in the field. New construction and routine maintenance would be deferred.
"We're asking supervisors to take a look at what their groups do," Richey said. "If it is a noncritical function, are there things people could do from home? Do they have a communications plan so they can stay in touch?"
Health manufacturer prepares
Ethicon Endo-Surgery, the Johnson & Johnson company that makes surgical instruments in Albuquerque, began its continuity planning early this year when H1N1 began to spread. A management team began tracking federal government announcements, World Health Organization forecasts and news reports. The health risk got high enough to trigger a number of actions, said plant manager Angel Gonzalez. "We can't protect people from what they run into outside, but we try to protect them while they're here," he said.
"One of the first things we did is we took our housekeeping contractors and elevated their contract to double the amount of cleaning they do daily," Gonzalez said. "We invested more to make sure our facilities went to another level of cleanliness." All surfaces are disinfected, especially the cafeteria, turnstiles and surfaces people are likely to touch. Forty hand-sanitizing units have been added throughout the facility, Gonzalez said. Everyone is expected to use a hand sanitizer upon entering the building.
Ethicon has a full-time nurse on site but a physician is now visiting the plant three times a week for four hours at a time.
Plant employees are trained to know what to do if they're sick. "Our first directive is, if you have a fever do not come in," Gonzalez said. "You're not allowed to come in until your temperature is normal." Signs have been posted throughout the plant directing employees to see the nurse if they feel feverish. "We've loaded up on masks to make sure if someone comes in and has the sneezes we can give them a mask to wear," he said.
"Our products save lives," Gonzalez said, so in case production suffers because of a flu outbreak, Ethicon has overstocked its distribution centers. If the pandemic is really bad, Ethicon has identified the products it makes that are most critical to patient care. Remaining staff would be put to work on those products, Gonzalez said.
N.M. hotel industry cross-trains
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