Last year's floods and tornadoes have many small businesses in the Springfield area thinking about disaster preparedness for their business. If your small business has a contingency plan for natural disasters, but doesn't have one for pandemic flu, you need to rethink your plan.
Small businesses are especially susceptible to the negative economic impacts of a flu pandemic. An estimated 25 percent of businesses do not reopen following a major disaster, according to the Institute for Business and Home Safety. Planning from the outset can help offset business losses, and protect your business and your employees when the flu hits. Benefits of planning include minimizing disruption to business activities, protecting your employees' health and safety, and limiting the negative impact to your community, economy and society.
Recently, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Homeland Security announced the availability of a preparedness guide designed to assist small businesses in planning for the possibility of an H1N1 flu outbreak this year. The guide, available at www.sba.gov/flu, offers small-business owners tools and information to help them plan for and respond flexibly to varying levels of severity of an H1N1 outbreak - which may lead to increased absenteeism and, if the outbreak becomes more severe, may include restricted service capabilities and supply chain disruptions. The guide includes tips on how to write a continuity of operations plan, steps for keeping employees healthy and frequently asked questions about the H1N1 flu.
While reports of H1N1 cases haven't reached the levels they were at during the peak of flu season last year, businesses should be taking the time to develop an H1N1 preparedness plan. For small businesses, having even one or two employees out for a few days is not just a health concern, it's a bottom-line concern. The combination of seasonal flu and H1N1 could knock out many employees, costing businesses more as they pay for workers' sick days and temporary replacements. A well-crafted plan will help keep employees and their families healthy, as well as protect the business and the local economy.
SBA and its thousands of partners nationwide - including our Small Business and Technical Development Centers and SCORE chapters - are sharing guidance with America's small business community about the necessity of developing plans to help reduce the impact of a flu outbreak and prevent the spread of H1N1.
Guidance for small businesses includes:
• Identify a workplace coordinator who will handle any H1N1-related issues and their effect on a business.
• Write a plan of what to do in case employees come down with H1N1.
• Cross-train employees so that someone else is able to help carry out essential business functions.
• When possible, allow employees to work from home if they or a family member is sick.
• Provide employees with training and information on what they can do to keep themselves healthy and stop the spread of H1N1 (including simple steps like sneezing into your elbow instead of your hands).
As a small-business owner or employee, you do not want to be caught unprepared when the flu season hits. Regardless of the size or type of your business, a bit of planning now can put strategies into place that will help protect your business and its employees.
Plan now for the return of H1N1.Walter L. Cowart is branch manager for the Springfield office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. He can be reached at
walter.cowart@sba.gov.
