18 August 2009
Businesses in Jersey are being urged to make continuity plans to minimise the potential impact of a swine flu pandemic on their operations. The Public Health Department predicts that swine flu is likely to escalate significantly during September and October.
Jersey Enterprise has published two documents on its website, which are designed to help businesses assess their ability to cope with higher than normal levels of staff absence. The first is a fact sheet detailing the latest information on swine flu, such as the symptoms to watch out for, and simple ways to contain the spread, such as the “Catch it, bin it, kill it” campaign, plus a high level list of questions that can be used by any organisation as the basis for creating a business continuity plan.
The second is a more in-depth checklist of potential measures which could be taken by a business to help to mitigate the impact – each item won’t be relevant for every business, but the list provides a guide to the sort of actions which will have an impact.
Mike King, Chief Officer of Economic Development, said: “The key point is that there is no one solution which will fit every business in Jersey – but that should not prevent each business making its own plan. Our role here is to provide information, to urge businesses to take the threat seriously and to take steps to mitigate the potential impact; we don’t want any business to be in the position of wishing they had put in place a few simple precautions which would have made all the difference.”
Swine flu is a threat to Jersey businesses in all sectors. The principal risk to the continuity of critical business functions is the shortage of staff both within organisations and in suppliers and subcontractors.
gov.je