Pandemic Workshops

Pandemic Preparedness for Organisations workshop

Before 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.