Federal Guidelines Encourage Employers to
Plan Now for Upcoming Influenza Season Recommendations Range from
Encouraging Hand Washing to Allowing Some Employees to Stay Home
Department of Commerce (DOC) Secretary Gary Locke, Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Homeland
Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced new guidance for
businesses to plan for and respond to the upcoming flu season.
The
guidance, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is
designed to help employers prepare now for the impact that seasonal and 2009
H1N1 influenza could have this fall and winter on their employees and
operations.
Employers' plans should address such points as encouraging
employees with flu-like symptoms or illness to stay home, operating with reduced
staffing, and possibly having employees who are at higher risk of serious
medical complications from infection work from home, according to the CDC
guidance.
It is not known whether the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus will
cause more illness or more severe illness in the coming months, but the CDC
recommends that everyone be prepared for influenza. Because seasonal and 2009
H1N1 influenza pose serious health threats, employers should work with employees
to develop and implement plans that can reduce the spread of flu, and to
encourage seasonal flu vaccination as well as H1N1 vaccination when that vaccine
becomes available.
Secretary Locke suggested businesses set the right
tone in the workplace. That means implementing common sense measures to reduce
the risk of spreading the flu and encouraging workers who are sick to stay
home.
"The President has mobilized the federal government to get America
prepared," DOC Secretary Locke said. "But government can't do it alone. For this
effort to be successful, we need the business community to do its part." Making
the right decisions will not only improve public health, it also has the
potential to protect economic productivity: Employees who are sick and stay home
will not spread the flu in the workplace.
"This new guidance will help
our private sector partners continue to prepare for the upcoming flu season to
keep our economy functioning and our critical infrastructure secure," said DHS
Secretary Napolitano. "Ensuring business continuity is important to our
cooperative efforts to keep Americans safe."
There are many actions that
can be taken to help reduce the spread of flu. The guidance notes the importance
of using these actions, including regular and frequent hand washing and routine
cleaning of commonly touched surfaces.
"One of the most important things
that employers can do is to make sure their human resources and leave policies
are flexible and follow public health guidance,'' said HHS Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius. ``If employees are sick, they need to be encouraged to stay home. If
people begin to experience flu-like symptoms at work, they should be sent home
and possibly encouraged to seek medical treatment. ''
Employers should
review sick leave policies and ensure employees understand them, according to
the guidance. Employers should try to make sick leave policies flexible for
workers who may have to stay home with ill family members or if a child's school
is closed, the CDC says.
Employers should consider offering vaccine
against seasonal flu, and encourage employees to be vaccinated against seasonal
and H1N1 flu, the guidance says.
Employers also might cancel
non-essential face-to-face meetings and travel, and space employees farther
apart, the report says. And employees who are at higher risk for flu
complications might be allowed to work from home or stay home if the flu is
severe, it says.
"Keeping our nation's workers safe is a top priority,"
said Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth Harris, who participated in the
announcement. "Faced with a renewed H1N1 challenge during the coming flu season,
we are developing tools that will help ensure America's workers stay healthy and
our businesses remain viable."
