Sponsorship Opportunities

Be Prepared for Flu Season

Be Prepared for Flu Season
 
 
Now, more than ever, when many businesses are functioning with smaller staffs or dealing with employee furloughs, any employee illness can have a major impact on a company’s ability to perform. As we approach what the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said may be one of our most challenging flu seasons through this fall and winter, it is very important for every business to plan and prepare their company. Along with increasingly stronger flu strains, the CDC has stated they expect the H1N1 influenza to increase and they believe more people and communities will be affected.

The CDC is asking employers to plan to be able to respond in a flexible way to varying levels of the severity of an outbreak. They have created the “CDC Guidance for Businesses and Employers To Plan and Respond to the 2009-2010 Influenza Season”. The new guide recommends actions that non-healthcare employers should take now to decrease the spread of seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 flu in the workplace. The guide also includes additional strategies to use if flu conditions become more severe and there are new recommendations regarding when a worker who is ill with influenza may return to work. It can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/business/guidance/.

Additional tools and guidance documents have been developed by the federal government to assist employers in their planning. These resources are available online at:
www.flu.gov/plan/workplaceplanning/index.html      

One-Stop
www.flu.gov  

2009 H1N1 Influenza Information
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/  

2009 H1N1 Influenza Resources for Businesses and Employers
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/business/ 

Worker Safety and Health Guidance for a Pandemic
www.osha.gov/dsg/topics/pandemicflu/index.html  

OSHA’s Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for an Influenza Pandemic
http://www.osha.gov/Publications/influenza_pandemic.html 

CDC/NIOSH Occupational Health Issues Associated with 2009 H1N1 Influenza Virus
 
 

Stand Up for Business
Advertisement