Saturday 14 March 2020

Coronavirus Things to Do Checklist for your business

BUSINESS PLANNING TASK NOT STARTED IN PROGRESS COMPLETE
Identify a coordinator and/or team with defined roles and responsibilities for preparedness and response planning. The planning process should include input from a wide range of stakeholders e.g. health and safety representatives and trade union officials. . . .
Identify the critical activities undertaken by your business which would have to continue during a coronavirus outbreak on-Island, as well as the employees and other inputs that support those activities (e.g. raw materials, suppliers, sub-contractor services/products, logistics, process controls, security).   . . .
Discuss with your suppliers/sub-contractors whether they have robust Business Continuity plans in place – your organisation is only as good as those on whom it depends.   . . .
Consider preparing an additional pool of workers to undertake key tasks and provide training where appropriate (e.g. contractors, cross train employees, retirees). . . .
Determine the potential impact on your business-related travel (e.g. should international travel be curtailed in certain countries due to quarantines and/or border closures). Note that current planning assumes that domestic travel will not be restricted, although the Government may advise against non-essential travel. . . .
Find up-to-date, reliable information on the Government of Jersey website: www.gov.je/coronavirus   . . .
Establish an emergency communications plan and revise periodically. This plan should identify key contacts (with back-ups), chain of communications (including suppliers, customers and employees), and processes for tracking and communicating business and employee status.   . . .
Implement an exercise to test your plan, and revise periodically taking into account updated advice and guidance from Government   . . .
Implement an exercise to test your plan, and revise periodically taking into account updated advice and guidance from Government. . . .
PEOPLE PLANNING TASK NOT STARTED IN PROGRESS COMPLETE
Guided by advice issued by Government, forecast and plan for employee absences. This could be the result of a number of factors including personal illness, family member illness, bereavement, possible disruption to other sectors for example closures of nurseries and schools or reduced public transport.  . . .
As a general approach to reducing the spread of the infection across the island, assess your business needs for continued face to face contact with your customers/suppliers and consider plans to modify the frequency and/or type of face-to-face contact (e.g. video or tele-conferencing instead of travelling to meetings) among employees and between employees and customers. Whilst there is no intention to restrict domestic travel, the Government is likely to advise against non-essential travel, and this should be taken into account in planning.  . . .
Plan for a likely increase in demand for employees welfare services, if they are available.  . . .
Identify employees and key customers with special requirements, and incorporate the requirements of such persons into your preparedness plan.  . . .
Ensure that you have up to date employee contact details. This includes: Work and home contact information Telephone number Email (personal email as well as corporate email) Next of kin  . . .
Consider your customers’ needs and whether to review your business model and arrangements to continue to meet those needs. (e.g. enhance mail ordering and internet shopping capacities)  . . .
POLICY PLANNING TASK NOT STARTED IN PROGRESS COMPLETE
Guided by advice issued by Government, establish policies for sick-leave absences including policies on when a previously ill person is no longer infectious and can return to work after illness (i.e. when they are no longer showing symptoms and feel better) and agreeing them with trade unions and other professional representative bodies.  . . .
Establish policies for flexible worksite (e.g. working from home) and flexible work hours (e.g. staggered shifts)  . . .
Guided by advice from Government, establish policies for reducing spread of Coronavirus at the worksite (e.g. promoting respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette, and asking those with symptoms to self-isolate).  . . .
Guided by advice from Government, establish the current policies for employees who are suspected to be ill, or become ill at the worksite (e.g. infection control response, sick leave policies).  . . .
Set up authorities, triggers, and procedures for activating and terminating the company’s response plan, altering business operations (e.g. reducing operations as necessary in affected areas), and transferring business knowledge to key employees. This should include nominating deputies for key employees in advance, in case of absence.  . . .
Guided by advice from the FCO (which would be informed by the latest information from the World Health Organization and/or advice from Health Departments), establish policies on travel to affected geographic areas overseas and develop policies on managing employees working in or near an affected area.   . . .
RESOURCES PLANNING TASK NOT STARTED IN PROGRESS COMPLETE
Provide sufficient and accessible means for reducing spread of infection (e.g. provision of hand washing facilities or hand-hygiene products). 
 Consider additional measures to reduce the risk of infection, such as more frequent cleaning on premises, and ensure the resources to achieve these will be available. 
 Consider whether enhanced communications and information technology infrastructures are needed to support employees working from home, tele- conferencing instead of face to face meetings and remote customer access. 
 Consider policy on access to medical treatment for UK staff working overseas, and whether any specific arrangements need to be put in place, and more generally develop policies, based on duty of care, on managing your overseas staff taking into account possible reduced access to consular services  
EDUCATION TASK NOT STARTED IN PROGRESS COMPLETE
Disseminate easily-accessible information about coronavirus (COVID-  ) to your workforce which is appropriate to the stage of alert (e.g. signs and symptoms, modes of transmission when this information is available), personal and family protection and response strategies (e.g. hand hygiene, coughing/sneezing etiquette, contingency plans). This should be based on the information already available on the Government website. 
Ensure that communications are culturally and linguistically appropriate. 
Disseminate information to employees about your preparedness and response plan for your business, including their role in this plan. 
Develop platforms (e.g. hotlines, dedicated websites) for communicating status and actions to employees, vendors, suppliers, and customers. 
Ensure that Government, Public Health and WHO websites are the sources for timely and accurate information (domestic and international).  

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