As the Novel Coronavirus keeps spreading across China and abroad, overtaking SRAS in the number of fatalities and contamination, there is still a lot of unknow elements related to the virus itself and to the current response capacities around the globe.
In such time, the dangerous level of misinformation that spreads on social media faster than the virus itself creates unnecessary fears and confusion among business community, putting company executives into a difficult position to take the right decision that will protect their employees.
It is therefore essential to have access to (1) accurate and timely information as well as (2) appropriate tools to monitor the situation across your company locations and beyond. With such knowledge, you can (3) proactively communicate with your people to explain the different ways to prevent the infection and act with confidence to protect your workforce.
As the current Covid-19 pandemic situation evolves rapidly, you should start by (4) reviewing your risks management and escalation plan, making sure you have a specific one related to pandemic and infectious diseases outbreak.
The first steps of a pandemic escalation plan would include health screening for employees, visitors and 3rd party vendors as well as revised travel and meeting guidelines. Such measures are obviously more complex to implement for businesses working with large crowds (i.e. hotels, malls, healthcare facilities) while, in the meantime, they are the most exposed to contamination.
At International SOS Clinic and offices, we set-up health screenings to make sure our visitors are properly screened and avoid contamination to other patients and employees. We also differed all non-essential travels such as company gatherings and participation to conferences.
It is important to remember that, in the event of positive screening or confirmed cases among your employees or visitors, a robust pandemic escalation plan is your survival guide to business continuity and employees’ protection.
At International SOS, we have more than 30 years of expertise to deliver travel risk management and medical solutions to our clients around the world. In this specific pandemic time, our services include access to accurate and timely information on Covid-19; medical expertise to review, validate and implement plans and procedures; on-going incident monitoring system and, whenever necessary, the presence of Senior medical advisor to make sure you are well prepared.
For the latest information on the Novel Coronavirus pandemic please visit https://internationalsos.com/coronavirus
