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Issue - April, 2006
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Ottawa--Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) has put together an extensive how-to guide for preparing for a flu pandemic.
Health experts in Canada and throughout the world are convinced a pandemic is inevitable, given there were three in the last century. The flu strain of most concern is H5N1, commonly known as Avian or bird flu.
To date, it has caused 103 deaths, but the cases were transmitted from infected poultry. No human-to-human transmission has been reported, but according to the World Health Organization, there’s a chance H5N1 will mutate into an aggressive form passed by human-to-human contact. At that point a pandemic will be declared.
The primary effect of a pandemic will be staffing shortages, with up to 50 per cent of a business’s workforce calling in sick. Other threats include disruption to logistics, IT and energy sources, along with reduced demand for products.
The CME document provides suggestions for continuity planning, such as appointing a pandemic coordinator, cross-training employees to take over absent colleagues’ work, and limiting face-to-face contact among employees, such as meetings and social gatherings.
The free guide may be downloaded at CME’s site: www.cme-mec.ca
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