Pandemic Preparedness for Organisations workshopBefore most people had even heard of COVID-19, forward-thinking organisations prepared for a pandemic, along with other threats, as part of their business continuity management planning.
Pandemics have long been a recognised risk: before COVID-19 businesses faced the threat of HIV, Ebola, MERS and avian influenza, to name just a few. With increasing global mobility, population growth and urbanisation, it is all but inevitable that once COVID-19 has been vanquished, there will be other pandemics and epidemics with the potential to cause disruption on a massive scale.
Will your organisation be ready for the next pandemic?
Duration: 1 day of instruction (8:30 am - 5:00 pm) - Certificate of Completion provided
Outline
Pandemic Preparedness for Organisations provides an in-depth review and analysis of a specialist methodology that prepares businesses for the potential outbreak of a pandemic. Wide-ranging topics include the differences in a pandemic-specific plan to exercising and maintaining such a plan.
Objectives
At the end of this course, you will be:
- Familiar with definitions surrounding, and potential consequences of a pandemic.
- Able to outline the starting point(s) for your organisation.
- Assess organisational risks associated with pandemics.
- Properly identify critical organisational functions that may be affected.
- Verify related current procedures and responsibilities within your organisation.
- Build pandemic-specific plan elements and strategies.
- Exercise and maintain pandemic-specific plans.
Structure
Lesson 1: Get organised
- Ensure you have leadership support.
- Determine the tools you will use to track the project and communicate progress.
- Identify the appropriate functions and individuals for representation on the project team that will drive this planning process through to completion.
- Ensure that you establish a pandemic-specific organisation to support the pandemic plan.
- Establish a preliminary framework regarding how the plan will be approached and how the finished product will be organised.
Lesson 2: Assess the risk and confirm critical functions
- Evaluate organisation-wide risk.
- Review your organisation's risk assessment for additional considerations from the perspective of a pandemic.
- Identify the critical activities that comprise key components of your organisation before any significant planning can begin.
- Review your organisation's business impact analysis (BIA) to ensure that it captures in-depth requirements regarding key staff and associated resources.
- Identify and analyse the similarities and differences between your existing business continuity plan.
- Explore the potential strengths of the existing plan when adapting it for a pandemic scenario.
- Use current plans, practices, and procedures within your organisation when adapting your business continuity plan to fit a pandemic scenario.
- Examine the state of your organisation's departmental procedures to test for appropriateness and criticality.
Lesson 3: Develop pandemic-specific plan elements
- Develop organisation-wide initiatives specific to a pandemic preparedness plan.
- Revise existing business continuity plan-related documentation to reflect pandemic-related requirements.
Lesson 4: Develop pandemic-related plan strategies
- Review strategic options and consider which might be viable for your organisation.
- Assign responsibilities to appropriate areas for further research and investigation.
- Recommend the most viable options to leadership. Obtain approval and funding.
Lesson 5: Put it all together
- Information regarding pandemic considerations.
- Corporate direction to include policies, procedures and guidelines.
- Specific actions to be implemented to ensure that critical business functions are maintained.
- Resources to support critical functions.
- Contact information.
Lesson 6: Exercise/test and maintain plan
- Review options for pandemic scenario-based exercises/tests.
- Understand the elements required to conduct an exercise/test.
- Review requirements for a maintenance programme to ensure all elements of the pandemic preparedness plan are updated as appropriate.
Testimonials
"This was a great course. Timely, accurate and relevant information. I am directly dealing with communicating and training staff on COVID-19-related changes to operations and I feel like this course helped me have a greater understanding of the depth, breadth and importance of information that is out there."- CBCP, USA"Great experience, this is a course that all Business Continuity professionals should add to their portfolios. I already recommended the course to various colleagues."- CBCP, USA"This was a great way to network and gain some confidence in navigating through the current organisational challenges posed by COVID-19."- CBCP, USA
Contact us to discuss how we could help your organisation.