Is Your Business Ready For COVD19?

Welcome to March as we head into the end of quarter one! So Far it has been an interesting start to the year from a business perspective and we think we may be in for a few challenges this year. Especially, with what is happening with the COVD19 (Coronavirus). I remember early into my Emergency Management career, being part of a District Health board team writing a policy for the “Avion Flu Virus”. When writing the policy, Google and Social Media was not the force that it is now, and I remember the planning team not sure how to approach writing the policy and guidelines. However, we had subject matter experts to help us understand the symptoms and who could be affected by SARS and what precautions we needed to take. The usual precautions of hygiene and washing hands were emphasised and hand sanitisers were put everywhere in the workplace. Then it was over. The panic had gone, and it was business as usual.

Now, with the COVID-19 (Coronavirus), I feel that there could be more implications not from a mortality perspective but from an economic one. I am not wanting to put panic into people but when we reflect on how big the Chinese economy is and how reliant the global economy is on it, for export, import, manufacturing and distribution; the effects to different industries from tourism, farming to manufacturing is potentially quite big.

As I reflected over the weekend how we as a small business could be impacted and what we needed to do to survive, but also how we can help some of our clients that may be in vulnerable situations as mentioned above.  In my experience with the SARS and the more recent H1N9 (swine flu), we firstly got educated about what it meant and who could be impacted. When reading about some supermarkets in Auckland running out of stock over the weekend, as people panicked over the first case of Coronavirus in New Zealand and started buying food and supplies, Given the vast technology we have today (literally in our hands), it saddens me that we haven’t taken the time to understand more fully such pandemic diseases, their impact on compromised population, and their accompanied symptoms

The Coronavirus Outbreak—What Business Should Know 

To date, New Zealand has had a single case of COVID-19. The Ministry of health is confident the swift actions by the person and their family, and the health sector, means there is a low risk of any spread into the community from this case. The likelihood of a widespread outbreak remains low-moderate

There is a possibility that this strain of coronavirus will possibly have an impact on business and business practices in New Zealand, with the potential for it to become a greater issue as the situation evolves. In the event of a pandemic, there are a number of factors that may impact on your ability to keep your business running, so it is important to consider these as part of your business continuity planning.

 It is important that individuals, workplaces and Government plan for a pandemic so we can:

• Minimise the impact of the disease on the people of New Zealand.
• Enable society to continue to function as normally as possible during and after a pandemic.
•   Minimise the impact on our economy.

Areas to plan for include:

•  All businesses should continue with their usual health and safety practices in line with the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 around good hygiene and business continuity planning. The Act requires businesses to mitigate health and safety risks and protect their workers from them, so far as is reasonably practicable. Minimising the spread of infectious diseases in the workplace is important to keeping staff safe and well at work.
•  How you will maintain your essential services or activities with high numbers of staff absence over an extended period.
• How you can protect your workers and reduce the risk of spread of the pandemic influenza virus in your workplace.
• What essential goods and services you rely on and how you will manage any disruptions to supply. This may mean planning for a continued supply of products required to meet health and safety requirements.
•  How you can implement alternative work practices in your workplace (for example, social distancing measures, remote working capability);
• What services will need additional support to meet a surge in demand (for example, IT support services)
•  From a business perspective; if you have clients, friends and associates that could be impacted by what is happening aboard, talk to them and understand how they could be impacted, when they could start seeing the effects and how you can help. Communication is key.

According to the New Zealand Ministry of Health “common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.” Currently, there is no specific treatment for this virus and no vaccine to prevent it. This vaccine could be a minimum of a year away.

• Employers may want to consider the guidance from the Ministry of Health and District Health Boards Public Health Service.
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is also providing the latest advice for travellers on the Safe Travel website if you or any staff may be heading overseas for international business commitments
• For COVID-19 health advice and information, contact the Healthline team (for free) on 0800 358 5453 or +64 9 358 5453 for international SIMS.

We at Npower Business Solutions are passionate about resilience and believe that a resilient organisation is one where people work together using their knowledge and resources to prepare for and deal with disasters and interruptions to daily business life. They use personal and business strengths as well as existing organisation networks and structures. A resilient organisation is enabled by strong networks that can offer support to the business in a time of crisis.