YCSI Blog

A recent survey suggests many large corporations have developed contingency plans but many small and medium sized businesses have not. In a survey conducted in the first two weeks of September by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC), almost 60 percent of those surveyed believe the threat of a pandemic is real.  Yet only about 22 percent of respondents have an emergency plan in place with another 27 percent who say they are working on developing one. 

Unlike natural disasters, where any disruption to business service provision is likely to be hardware related, disruption to business operations in the event of a pandemic will be mainly human-resource oriented.

According to Influenza Pandemic: Continuity Planning Guide for Canadian Business “Businesses should plan for up to 50 percent staff absences for periods of about two weeks at the height of a severe pandemic wave, and lower levels of staff absence for a few weeks either side of the peak. Overall a pandemic wave may last about eight weeks.”

In an effort to assist business in creating the business continuity policies, and better prepare for possible pandemic, in light of the concerns surrounding H1N1, the OCC created a Pandemic Planning Toolkit in 2008 and is rereleasing the kit now. You can get the toolkit here.