Firms ponder their role in event of pandemic
Contingencies being developed for workplaces, operations Issues include hygiene, drugs — and keeping economy going
A group of corporate Canada’s top medical directors gathered last week at a closed- door luncheon in Toronto to brainstorm ways to keep the country’s economic engine running in the event of a crippling flu pandemic. They call themselves the Third Thursday club — an informal gathering of occupational health experts who meet on the third Thursday of every month to discuss health issues in the workplace. The topic last week was Avian flu, and medical directors from such household names as Air Canada, Bank of Montreal, Enbridge Gas Distribution, and Sun Life Financial packed a room at the exclusive Ontario Club to share information and pandemic planning strategies.
“ We don’t want to be reinventing the wheel, so we’re passing on what each company is doing and sharing ideas, and that’s what’s happening at the Third Thursday club,” said Dr. Tom Keogh, who serves as occupational health physician for Enbridge, Toronto Hydro and several paint and chemical companies for the automotive sector.
Businesses large and small are increasingly realizing they have a major role to play in the event of a flu pandemic, both to contain the spread of the virus and to minimize the financial impact on their operations in the face of mass absenteeism, broken supply chains and consumer panic. Measures can be as simple as workplace hygiene campaigns and the promotion of telecommuting, to the more thorny strategy of stockpiling anti- viral drugs, such as Tamiflu, to help protect war room executives, essential front- line staff and employees who must travel to highrisk regions in Asia and Europe. Since June, when Keogh
joined Toronto Public Health’s vaccine and antiviral subcommittee, he has acted as a liaison between the city and his Third Thursday colleagues to help plan for business continuity in the event of an outbreak. He said the business community, particularly large corporations with thousands of employees, can play a vital role — as they increasingly do every flu season — to take pressure off public healthcare providers should a pandemic situation emerge. “The public health channels are going to be very, very busy,” said Keogh, adding that getting vaccines and anti- viral medication to major employers, many of whom have their own occupational health physicians and nurses, could take a load off hospitals and health clinics.
He’s concerned, however, that smaller businesses throughout the GTA aren’t taking the issue seriously enough. “The planning may not be on their radar because they’re so focused on getting their product out.” The issue began rattling the business community in August after Sherry Cooper, chief economist of BMO Nesbitt Burns, released a report on the Avian flu predicting that the virus, if it mutated to allow human- to- human transmission, could end up having a “ devastating impact” on the global economy.
In a follow- up report in October, Cooper said businesses should not lean on government and need to start planning for themselves. “ Businesses would be confronted with, say, 25 per cent absenteeism, maybe more, as many workers take ill, stay home to take care of children or family members or refuse to go to work, especially in heavily populated office towers,” she wrote.
Cooper’s reports got mixed reviews. Some occupational health physicians said it made more businesses think about their role in the pandemic planning mix, while others say it unnecessarily fanned public anxiety — what some refer to as the “ panic- demic.”
“ There’s been a certain amount of fear- mongering here,” said Dr. Bernie Gosevitz, who serves as medical director for Rogers Communications Inc., Barrick Gold Corp., and BCE Inc.’s Bell Globemedia, which includes the Globe and Mail and CTV.
“ A number of my colleagues realize we have to be prepared, but we don’t want to scare the crap out of people. At the same time, you don’t want to be complacent.”
Gosevitz said one of the biggest morale issues is the question of corporate stockpiling of anti- viral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza, which the United Nations and governments around the world have already begun to accumulate as a first line of defence for pandemic hotspots. He said industry will need to address the issue, and that some stockpiling is justified as both a defence against viral spreading and to keep brain centres and core operations running when all else crashes down.
Gosevitz has already purchased dozens of Tamiflu treatments for employees of Barrick Gold. The company has an office in Moscow, which last month saw an Avian flu outbreak among hundreds of birds. Barrick, like any company with international offices, has to make sure anyone coming and going from high- risk areas aren’t inadvertently transporting the virus.
“ The issue of balance is more critical than anything else,” said Gosevitz, adding that business travellers should also be equipped with hygiene kits that include gloves, masks and hand sanitizer. “ I think these travellers have a responsibility. Industry has to address that, and it’s a smart thing to do.” A draft paper to be published next month in the Ontario Medical Review warns that anti- viral drugs purchased by public health authorities will flow to front-end healthcare workers and essential service workers, not company executives or the factory workers who will keep the economy humming.
“Occupational health physicians and nurses have a mandate to protect the interests of the company with regards to the health of its workers,” wrote Dr. Sidney Siu, author of the paper and an occupational health physician who attended last Thursday’s meeting.
“ It may be advisable to stockpile some of the anti- viral medication inside the occupational health centre so that when the pandemic occurs, the companies will have medications in their possession for the protection of workers.” He emphasized that companies need to clearly outline the criteria for dispensing and receiving such medication.
Third Thursday member Maureen Cividino, who is a medical director for several companies in large industry, said businesses — and the public in general — shouldn’t underestimate the benefits of old- fashioned hand washing.
“ It’s a tried and true method,” she said. “It’s inexpensive, it works, but people don’t follow it very often. You just need to go into a washroom to see that.” Coughing and sneezing etiquette also ranks high, such as avoiding shaking someone’s hand if you’ve been coughing into your own all day.
“ I think some Asians have it right in that their greetings are a bow instead of a handshake,” said Cividino. Keogh said there are simple things corporations can do to encourage better hygiene. Enbridge, for example, will issue its employees a ‘ bug bag’ this flu season that contains instructions on hand washing, hand sanitizer, and cleaning swabs for disinfecting keyboards and phone handsets.
“ These droplets will stay there for a certain number of hours if you cough or sneeze on your keyboard,” he said.