According to my parents,1 the words that make up the title of this column are the same words that I, as a not-so-bright 3- or 4-year-old, would stand on the front lawn of our home and hurl at all the “big kids” walking to and from elementary school. Those of you who know me now understand the incredible irony in this, because with two more big toes, my legs could lead me to be mistaken for a chicken.2 Fortunately for my orthodontia, I abandoned my apparent obsession with fighting Chicken Little. Recent events, however, led me to conclude that someone should hunt his scrawny, well, um, “backside” down and shoot him.
I ordinarily refrain from wholesale promotion of disturbing acts of calculated violence against nonexistent creatures.3 But now, the Chicken Little concept has become such a ubiquitous edifice of information flow in our society, screeching that the sky is falling at every opportunity. And it screeches at the top of its lungs, not because an acorn landed on its head (a verifiable fact) but because someone speculated that an acorn might fall on its head (Dionne Warwick-style psychic conjecture). Recently, Chicken Little put the entire world into a tither, sending millions of us into a mask-buying, antibacterial hand washing frenzy. Over what turned out to be no worse than an ordinary bout of the flu.4
For all of its erroneous screaming over swine flu, Chicken Little did accomplish something. You see, the societal tither that followed highlighted that our planning for potential outbreaks was previously terrible, all the way from government agencies, to hospitals to businesses. That’s right, businesses—the backbone of this economic engine that one day might get overhauled and work again—universally were blind sided by the concept of bio-disaster planning. And had the pandemic turned into a plague of epic proportions, businesses would have been unable to assist in containing its spread, or maintain their operations (or mitigate their losses) through the duration of the crisis. And no one can fault them—the last time a truly epic outbreak called upon society to close its doors for a while, few of today’s businesses were even around. And, remember, this is America—everything always works out, right?
Generally it does, but sometimes it’s nice to be prepared. And since Chicken Little is speculating that the swine flu could return in a potentially more virulent form this fall, now (and not then) is the time to make preparations on the off chance it does. For businesses, this is really just a function of adding a proverbial page to your disaster readiness playbook. Most businesses have plans for fire evacuation and earthquake preparedness, and take precautions to offset losses that these disasters can cause (for example, mounting things to the walls, fire suppression systems and so forth). Now might be the time to deal with preparing for a biological incident that could affect your operations.
Pandemic planning,5 as it’as been coined, really consists of a few simple considerations:
Operations: What do you need at your facilities (other than your employees) to run your operations? Identify the vital goods, raw materials and so on that you must have, and prepare a contingency plan for obtaining them should your supplier be unable to deliver. At the onset of a crisis, consider stocking up if cash flow or credit (if there is any by then) allow. Ensure sufficient cleaning and hygienic supplies are on hand to keep vital operations clean.
People: What position(s) in your organization are vital. Think of it this way: Who can never go on vacation and, if they did, your company would be in trouble? If there’s someone like that, make sure you have a trained backup or a contract/vendor who’s relatively up to speed and can step in.
Policies: Make sure your policies address not only absences (like sick leave/vacation/FMLA) but also tell people when they must stay home. They should also empower supervisors and others to send employees, customers, vendors or suppliers home. Requiring or allowing sick people at work only exposes your company to greater risk (health-wise and business-wise). Develop a protocol for previously sick employees who are returning to work.
Delivery systems: How will you deliver your products/services in the case of interruption of commercial transit and/or major delivery companies? Do you have multiple relationships or do you depend on only one? Coordinate with key shippers to ensure they have a plan in place to provide services if they experience significant absenteeism.
Information: Identify key people to stay in contact with local and state agencies that will undoubtedly be charged with providing information (such as local health departments, OSHA and the CDC). Have them develop relationships with those agencies now, and get them familiar with the agencies’ websites and other informational outlets.
With some relatively simple forethought and a bit of advance action, businesses can be better equipped to react when, and if, Chicken Little is ever right.
1 Admittedly, not the AP wire, but reputable just the same.
2 And it was even worse then—trust me, I’ve seen the photos.
3 Random acts or miscalculated violence against real beings, on the other hand…
4 But it did vault the word “pandemic” to number three on the all-time list of overused, misunderstood words. Displacing “recession” and “hanging chad” but right there behind “always” and “never.”
5 The catch phrase stepchild of “from Wall Street to Main Street.” It’s just too bad the First Amendment won’t let us prohibit lazy, overused clichés.
