Pandemic Files2009

IBM Global Technology Services

Are you ready for a Pandemic?
Agenda
10:00 Introduction from the EPS and IBM
- Anne Sheehan – IBM
10:05 Implications for Business Activity
- Michael Conway – EPS
10:35 The Public Health Side of Pandemic Planning
- Gavin Maguire – HSE
11:05 Pandemic preparedness and response
- Russell Lindburg – IBM
11:40 Q&A
12:00 Lunch and Refreshments

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009

Implications for Business Activity

–

Business Continuity Planning
in a Pandemic

Implications for Business Activity - Continuity Planning
® Renaissance Contingency Services Ltd ©

MICHAEL CONWAY

DIRECTOR
RENAISSANCE CONTINGENCY SERVICES

EMERGENCY PLANNING SOCIETY
(REPUBLIC OF IRELAND BRANCH)


Set the Scene


Question


Human suffering and loss of life would
obviously outweigh economic concerns.

BUT

Life goes on.


Inevitability

A pandemic is occurring, waves will follow
and another Pandemic will follow


So don’t just plan for now and this
pandemic


BCM Definition
“Business Continuity Management is a
holistic management process that
identifies potential impacts that threaten
an organisation and provides a
framework for building resilience and the
capability for an effective response that
safeguards the interests of its staff, key
stakeholders, reputation, brand and
value creating activities.”


Businesses should develop
policies and plans for interruption


Plans should cover

• Personnel/Employee
• Environmental
• Communications
• Technology


Personnel/Employee
– Work and social travel
– Quarantine, who pays for quarantine
– Communications plan
– Advise employees of risks and plans
– Managing cross skilling and transfer of
knowledge


Personnel/Employee contd
– Agree and advise staff on:
• policies relating to Family illness,
• self imposed or other quarantine, post holiday
quarantine,
• Obligation to advise employer of location of
holiday etc.
– Give Employees a Family Pandemic Plan


Environmental
• Building
– Hand rubs
– Tissues
– Hygiene notices
• Transport arrangements to work
• Building air handling
• Restrictions on entry to building of
persons with flu like symptoms


Communications

• Policies for external and internal
communications
– Detailed Staff instructions
– Specific material for customers
– Specific material for suppliers


Technology

– Work from home procedures and practices


Supply Chain, Logistics, Key
Suppliers, Key Customers
•Management of contractors
•E.g. Cleaning staff, catering staff,
deliveries and collections, refuse
services etc

•Contractual Obligations

•Develop Policies to operate in Pandemic


Recommendations
• As a minimum every organisation should:
– Review/exercise your Incident Management Plans if not
done in past 6 months
– Verify that contact details are up-to-date
– Check out technical and procedural aspects of "Work from
home" options
– Work closely with your occupational physician/medical
advisor
– Use video links and teleconferencing to reduce the amount
of face-to-face contact and travel
– Consider postponing face-to-face training courses,
unnecessary travel, and work-related social events


Key Advice
• Establish responsibility for continuity planning

• Develop a continuity plan in consultation with employees,
customers, suppliers and service providers

• Develop and deliver an employee personal plan

• Identify critical activities and employees and inputs required

• Consider impact of employee absences, disruption of supply
chains, and increase or decrease in demand.

• Communication, human resource, travel and insurance policies
should be put in place to cope with influenza pandemic

• Prepare policies to reduce the risk of infection in the work place.


Things to Do - Take Responsibility:
• Bring Pandemic Planning to Board Level

• Allocate responsibility for monitoring and managing
BCM

• Ensure Chain of Command is precise and Clear

• Educate Board and Management

• Develop Policies to operate in Pandemic


Things to Do – Technology:
• Implement technology for flexible
working for employees
• Implement technology for flexible
working for Customers/Suppliers
• Test technology and remote working
• Effective telecommunications
• Computing capabilities.


Things to Do – Communications:
• Develop communications plan for
customers and staff.
• Advise employees of the risks and the
plans in place.
• Policies for external and internal
communications
• Detailed Staff instruction for operating.
Specific material for customers


Things to Do - Develop Plans:

• Plan with key suppliers and customers
developing coordinated plans.

• Ensure adequate physical security for
operating in crisis.


Summary
• Pandemic Planning for Business Continuity is
an extension of normal BC Planning.

• The prime difference is that the disruption
may be national or international rather than
local and the impacts and risks will be
different

• The BC Planning Model still works.


Resources

See list available


The Public Health side of
Pandemic Planning

by
Mr Gavin Maguire

3rd September 2009

Health Service Planning to
date
HSE began planning for an Influenza
Pandemic in late 2005.
Influenza Pandemic Steering group formed
Expert Group re-established.
National plan published in January 2007.
Expert Group report published in January
2007.
Some elements of this plan were put in place
between 2007 and April 2009.

With the emergence of Swine Flu in April
2009 the HSE National Crisis Management
Team was convened to;-

– Refine and implement elements of the plan that
were ready.
– Review and escalate the elements of the plan not
ready.
Since its first convening on the 26th April the NCMT
has been meeting regularly to co-ordinate
preparations.

Regional Crisis Management Teams
have been meeting to co-ordinate
regional preparedness in accordance
with the decisions of the National Crisis
Management Team.

Influenza Pandemic Roles and
Responsibilities
Groups and Teams;
– Interdepartmental Committee on Public
Health Emergencies,
– National Public Health Emergency Team,
– Expert Advisory Group,
– HSE National & Regional Crisis
Management Teams.

The key strategic issues for
the project are;-
Mass Vaccination
– Objective is to prevent people becoming
infected with the Swine Flu Virus.
– The rate of hospitalisations, sickness,
death and absenteeism from work will
hopefully be significantly reduced by the
mass vaccination programme.
– Concern is that the virus could re-assort or
shift reducing or eliminating the vaccine
effect.

the project are;-
Mass Vaccination
– 7.8m ordered - 2 Doses per person.
– Delivery to commence this month.
– Vaccinations to commence Mid October.
– Logistics are enormously complex.
– Significant staff redeployment required.
– Purpose designed IT system being put in
place.

the project are;-
Mass Vaccination
– Priority groups set and under constant
review.
– Uptake of Vaccination will be important.
– Objective is to cause minimum disruption
to commerce and industry as possible
during the vaccination programme.
– Some waiting times will be unavoidable.

Telephone Hotline/Web based support tool

– Automated telephone and web based system to provide
support to the public.
– Required to offer support to Public and to reduce pressure
on Primary Care.
– Will be ready by end of October.
– Initially will provide diagnosis and identification as to risk
group.
– Will also offer advise regarding managing ill at home.
– Most callers who are diagnosed will be advised to stay at
home and only contact their GP if their condition does not
improve.
– At risk patients will be advised to contact their GP.

Flu Clinics
– A new care setting to provide face to face
diagnostic and basic treatment services for
Pandemic Patients.
– Would be activated if GP’s were becoming
overwhelmed.
– However cannot be activated at the same time as
vaccination programme is underway.
– Locations identified, staff rosters ready.

Critical Care Surge Capacity
– Hospital critical care capacity will be
stretched.
– Areas outside of Intensive care will have to
be used.
– More staff need to be trained in ventilation.
– Ventilation capacity to be maximised.

Information Management
– The MT,NCMT and RCMT’s will require
accurate and timely information on what
impact the Pandemic is having particularly
during a severe wave.
– Responsibility has been assigned for the
co-ordination of all pandemic information
required for crisis management.

Primary and Secondary Care Surge
Capacity and Business Continuity
– Hospitals and Local Health Office’s have
been working through Pandemic Action
Checklists for the last couple of years.
– These checklists have been updated to
reflect the recent considerations of the
NCMT.

- The modelling data supporting local
planning is currently being updated to reflect
emerging understanding of Swine Flu.
- All parts of the HSE will suffer staff
absenteeism and must plan accordingly.
- Disruption to supply chains may arise.
- Non essential activities may need to be
postponed to facilitate staff redeployment.

Pandemic preparedness and response
Are you ready for this unique threat?

Russ Lindburg
IBM Business Continuity & Resiliency Services
September 3, 2009

© 2009 IBM Corporation

Agenda

Pandemic: A unique threat requiring a unique response

Five critical areas for workforce continuity planning

Are you ready? Assessing your existing plans

What you should be doing now

How a service provider can help

41 © 2009 IBM Corporation

The world is riskier than it used to be

Changing environment More complex regulations
Expanding risk exposures Changing industry and regulatory standards
Increased global and regional Geographic dispersal requirements
Interdependencies Varying regulations per country
Supply chain disruption

Heightened impact of business disruption Impact of coping with the financial turmoil
Greater financial implications of downtime Loss of critical personnel
Brand vulnerabilities Loss of key knowledge
Data integrity requirements Reduction in attention to significance of risk
Reduction in testing recovery plans

On top of these threats the potential impact of the H1N1 pandemic adds a
new dimension that requires unique planning and a unique response

Source: IBM GTS Market Insights Analysis based on Goldman Sachs, “IT Spending Survey: Downturn takes its toll,” March 9, 2009


Pandemic – what to expect

Lessons from SARS and H5N1 taught us that the human factor in planning is a
critical component for any continuity plan and that organizations were not as well
prepared as they thought they were.

High rates of illness and death could impact your
employees and their families—and your customers,
partners and suppliers.
You should expect significant
disruption to international and
national infrastructures and commerce.
Employee absenteeism may reach
operations-crippling levels.


Industries hardest hit

All Industries: High rates of employee
absenteeism anticipated, especially in industries
like law enforcement, transportation and
communication, increasing operational losses

Global Financial System

Health, Public Safety and companies involved
with Social Welfare

Trade, Transportation and Tourism

Source: International Monetary Fund; The Global Economic and Financial Impact of an Avian Flu Pandemic and the Role of the IMF


Functional areas in corporations hardest hit

Areas that require face-to-face interaction -- due to
absenteeism and potential travel restrictions

Communications – internal and external

Transportation and Distribution

Corporate Governance

Information Technology

Source: International Monetary Fund; The Global Economic and Financial Impact of an Avian Flu Pandemic and the Role of the IMF


Difference between Pandemic and Traditional Continuity Plans
Most crisis management and business continuity plans focus on a disaster’s impact on
sites and equipment.

Traditional Business Continuity Pandemic Related Business Continuity

Assumes this is only your problem – This is everyone’s problem – customers,
competitors, customers and community competitors and surrounding community are
infrastructure is unaffected – localized affected by the same event – widespread
impact impact
Normal staffing levels are available Up to 40% staff absent and unavailable for
work
Critical business processes supported
May need to prioritize critical processes due
Normal cyclical peaks and valley’s in to limited staff
business May be drastic fluctuations in demand – up or
Shorter duration down
Limited or no advance notice Longer duration, multiple waves
Survival of your company is primary focus Some advance notice
Key employees and backups identified Company survival, plus contribution to
and assumed to be available community response
Risk of large % key employees unavailable


Why existing business continuity plans are unlikely to work
Existing business continuity plans are unlikely to be adequate to respond to a
pandemic type of disruption.

Mismatch exists between Plans developed do not
business requirements and Facilities consider the impact across the
recovery plans and capabilities industry and/or community

Plans are not exercised Network availability can be
or maintained at a major bottleneck in
appropriate levels of Technology People Network
restoring business
detail operations

Internal and/or external Plans do not effectively
communications Information address the impacts of a
processes are not crisp regional emergency

Dependency on key personnel Major disruptions to availability of
not properly addressed in human capital resources not
plans previously considered

Internal and external dependencies are not adequately identified or properly documented.


Why are interdependencies so critical?
Pandemic preparedness strategies must consider interdependencies in order to achieve
their intended goals.

No organization is an island with its systems or operations.
Organizations depend upon the public infrastructure for critical
services:
– Electricity, Gas, Water, Telecommunications, Transportation.
– Services including Police, Fire, Public Safety and Emergency Management.
– Medical and Government Services.

Companies interact electronically with their suppliers, customers and
partners.
Many organizations do not fully understand all internal and external
interdependencies.


The five “C’s” of successful workforce continuity planning
Command and Control
How will crisis management
decisions be made?
Are succession plans in place?
How will you interact with local
authorities?

Counseling Communication
How will you track the well- How will you get information to
being of your workforce during your workforce and the public?
a disruption? How will you collaborate with
What resources will you customers, suppliers and
provide to help employees and partners?
their families?

Contingency Connectivity
Is workforce recovery included in How will your workforce securely
your current continuity plans? access information and
Have you cross-trained workers for technology?
business critical processes? Will you have sufficient network
Do you have alternate workspace if bandwidth for remote access?
you primary office is not available?


Pandemic planning & preparedness -- key components

Many companies are unsure of where to start, or how well their accomplishments to
date measure up to emerging standards and guidelines.

Company pandemic strategy, policy and guidelines.
Executive sponsorship of pandemic planning.
Critical resource identification and tracking.
Communication and education plans for employees, customers.
Human resource planning and monitoring.
Employee impact and mitigation plans.
Proximity to healthcare facilities.
Supply chain impact and mitigation plans
Government interface plans.
Linkages to crisis and business continuity plans.
Business function and location-specific impact.
IT, network, security and workplace infrastructure continuity.
Pandemic plan testing, audit and maintenance.


What you should be doing now
Plan for the unique challenges a pandemic can bring. Define or update a
flexible contingency plan that augments your existing business resilience plans.
Rehearse your pandemic plan to ensure it works as intended. Include
employees, suppliers, partners, etc. to ensure no gaps exist.
Educate your workforce and communicate policies for work-at-home,
absenteeism, cross-training, social distancing and safe hygiene. Create or
revise policies to meet goals.
Track infected or absent employees to assist in well-being and fill critical roles
via predetermined succession plans.
Review agreements with DR service providers to ensure service levels
adequately support pandemic plans.
Automate wherever practical to provide virtual office capabilities and alert
notifications. Ensure you have planned adequately for network loads.
Engage local authorities to obtain up-to-date outbreak information and
guidance.


How a service provider can help

Getting additional help…
Assess and understand the potential
impact of a pandemic across multiple
facets of your organization
Assist with planning and testing
Maintain continuity of your business
operations through extensive
recovery resources and facilities
Provide technology and automation to
improve overall plan effectiveness
Safeguard your brand reputation
Demonstrate preparedness and
corporate responsibility


Final Thoughts

Pandemic is a relatively new stressor in the world of
business and industry.
Effective pandemic preparedness and response is part of
an overall business resilience program.
Pandemic is global in scope and is characterized by
widespread risk and uncertainty.
We are all on a new learning curve – some farther along
than others.
This is not easy to do – get help if you need it.

The hardest part of building a recovery capability is explaining why you didn’t.


Thank you for your time today.

For more information, visit:
ibm.com/services/continuity

Contact:
Russ Lindburg
+1-630-568-7516
lindburg@us.ibm.com


Trademarks and notes

IBM Corporation 2009
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, System i and System p are trademarks or registered trademarks of
International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If
these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information
with the appropriate symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate US registered or common law
trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also
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available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at
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Intel SpeedStep, Itanium, IT Infrastructure Library, ITIL, Java and all Java-based trademarks,
Linux, Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, the Windows logo, and UNIX are trademarks or service
marks of others as described under “Special attributions” at:
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Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.
References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make
them available in all countries in which IBM operates.

BUP03005-USEN-02


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