By Bob Barragan
The U.S. Small Business Administration and the Department of Homeland Security just announced the release of a preparedness guide for small businesses on Planning for 2009 H1N1 Influenza.
The common sense advice in the guide urges you to develop a written plan for dealing with a possible flu outbreak, and to do everything you can in the meantime to help your employees stay healthy. It is important that the following list of recommendations be reviewed carefully and applied in the most appropriate way to your small business.
• Develop policies that encourage ill workers to stay at home without fear of any reprisals.
• Develop other flexible policies to allow workers to telework (if feasible) and create other leave policies to allow workers to stay home to care for sick family members or care for children if schools close.
• Provide resources and a work environment that promotes personal hygiene. For example, provide tissues, no-touch trash cans, hand soap, hand sanitizer, disinfectants and disposable towels for workers to clean their work surfaces.
• Provide education and training materials in an easy to understand format and in the appropriate language and literacy level for all employees.
• Instruct employees who are well but who have an ill family member at home with the flu that they can go to work as usual. These employees should monitor their health every day, and notify their supervisor and stay home if they become ill. Employees who have a certain underlying medical condition or who are pregnant should promptly call their health care provider for advice if they become ill.
• Prepare business continuity plans so that if there is significant absenteeism or changes in the way you need to conduct business in the workplace during this outbreak you can maintain operations.
For more information on preparedness for small businesses and the H1N1 Influenza you can download for free at www.sba.gov/flu.
If you have questions concerning an existing business, or you are interested in starting a new business, please call the SBDC at (936) 294-3737. Our counselors are standing by to provide free, confidential, one-on-one counseling to assist with your business needs.
