Kristin Moyer

Rick DeLotto here.  While it is far too early for a “Lessons Learned” entry, we can make a fairly good stab at “Lessons still on the blackboard.”

• The Media will over react early and often.  Frankly, this is a good thing. We need the media to cut through the noise of everyday life to bring breaking information of potential threat situations to a (by now) skeptical public. If you can contain the outbreak before it becomes a genuine pandemic with deep penetration of the population, then it is far cheaper, easier and quicker to deal with and (2) when viruses become really widespread, then they have the opportunity to evolve very quickly and become resistant to anti-viral medicines. The Pandemic of 1918 was a world-shaking event that killed an estimated one hundred million people world-wide (both from the flu and secondary lung infections), at least twice as many people as World War One.  Roughly half a million people die each year from what we think of as a normal flu season.
• This is a good time to remind staff that a pandemic comes in waves (1918 came in three distinct waves spread over more than two years), as the virus evolves into an accommodation with its hosts.  This particular virus is projected to be back in the N. hemisphere later in 2009 as one of the components of the “regular flu season.” Despite its short incubation period, this strain spread very rapidly, reminding us that no part of the planetary surface is truly isolated anymore.  It was world-wide before any travel restrictions, however mild, were announced. New reports have surfaced that it is actively mutating, with unpredictable results.
• If you “acted on warning,” roughly a week ago, you should have a very good idea of the current state of your emergency contact system and be whittling down your “to-do list” of problems which you encountered.  Do not forget to try to dig out the business process weaknesses that caused the little problems along the way:  e.g. new hires and fires need to be on or off the notification list immediately.  Keep testing, as these systems are vital in any attempt to get information to staff outside of normal business hours,

Finally, how badly was your staff’s home life disrupted?  Knowing this can increase your ability to plan for normal operations during the next business disruption. Survey your staff anonymously to find out how the pandemic alert has affected their families.  Did they bring in extra supplies?  How much did they spend? How long was the disruption to school and daycare (both adult and child)?

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Category: Customer Executive Decisions insurance operations payments     Tags: banking and investment services, BCM DR, h1n1, influenza, Pandemic, Swine Flu

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