| IHRSA Report | In Brief
magine, for a moment, what would happen to your club if it was temporarily
I
shut down by government health officials because of the H1N1 flu pandemic.
How would you communicate with your members and employees? Would
you be financially prepared? Do you have plans in place to handle such
a development?
Though shutting down is a worst-case scenario, health experts are warning
Pandemic
that closures of nonessential businesses could occur in the event that the H1N1
influenza, commonly known as the swine flu, increases in severity. Recently, a
public recreation center in the U.K., the Mary Webb Sports Centre, in Pontesbury,
Preparedness:
was briefly forced to do so.
In June, for the first time in 41 years, the World Health Organization declared
an influenza pandemic. The decision was based on the sustained worldwide
H1N1 Flu
spread of the virus, not the severity of the illness caused by it. The virus spreads
easily from one person to another. At the time the pandemic was announced, the
virus was preferentially infecting young people under the age of 25. The most
Planning for
severe cases occurred among 30- to 50-year-olds.
By mid-July, some 34,000 cases of infection had been reported, resulting in
170 deaths.
Your Club
IHRSA’s Public Policy Team has developed a template that club operators can
use to create their own preparedness plan, which will help to protect their business,
employees, and members in case of a severe H1N1 outbreak. The template is
available to IHRSA members as a free download at http://ihrsa.org/bestpractices.
The opportune time to begin planning is now, while conducting “business as
usual.” Operators should begin to develop a pandemic preparedness protocol if
they don’t already have one in place; or, if they do, then they should review
and update the existing plan.
Priorities include:
• Identifying essential business activities;
• Determining which employees, supplies, and equipment are
necessary to keep the club open;
• Developing basic hygiene precautions to protect the health and
safety of employees and members;
• Writing emergency plans to facilitate communication with
employees and members;
• Reviewing and updating policies on physical and IT security;
• Evaluating and updating policies to ensure compliance with any
applicable laws and regulations;
• And assessing finances and insurance policies required to keep the club open,
or to reopen it in the event of a voluntary or mandatory closure.
As soon as clubs complete their planning, they should then implement pandemic
preparedness protocols. During this stage, their priorities become:
• Implementing any new policies or emergency plans;
• Educating employees and club members in the preparedness protocols;
• Stockpiling necessary supplies or equipment;
• And evaluating pandemic preparedness with ongoing testing and assessments.
If the virus were to continue spreading or its severity increase, it’s possible that
federal, state, and/or local governments would impose a quarantine and close
nonessential businesses, including clubs. During this emergency-response phase,
clubs should focus on business continuity; minimizing economic loss; protecting
the health and safety of employees and members; and maintaining essential busi-
ness operations until the club can reopen.
—|
.org
For more information, please log on to www.ihrsa.org/bestpractices.
84 Club business International | September 2009 | www.ihrsa.org
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