If pandemic hits, step up to the plate to act in employees' best interest
September 1, 2009 4 minutes read
If pandemic hits, step up to the plate to act in employees' best interest
Occupational health must be ready to reinforce policies
"I know John's son and wife have the flu, but John doesn't look sick, and I really need him to complete that report." As an occupational health professional, you can expect to hear many statements like this if H1N1 returns this fall as expected. "You will need to enforce that if John's family all have the flu, having John here is too big a risk to the rest of his department, and he really needs to stay home," says Catherine Rausch, MN, RN, senior occupational health nurse at Marathon Petroleum Co.'s St. Paul Park, MN, refinery. "Protecting the healthy might become a challenge when management needs to run a company."
Workers might become ill, fear exposure, experience side effects from Tamiflu, or need to care for children due to school closings. Regardless of the reason, many employees won't be at work.
Eden V. Wells, MD, MPH, a medical epidemiologist at the Michigan Department of Community Health in Lansing, says, "At this time, every job site should be considering two things: employee safety and continuity of business planning." Your job, says Wells, is twofold: to ensure that employees fulfill critical roles and to reduce the likelihood of ill employees spreading infection to others. Employees might feel pressure either to come to work when they are sick, or to stay at home when it's not necessary.
"Work closely with human resources in modifying policies to address these concerns," says Wells. "Employees will more likely remain at home to avoid infecting others if they believe the worksite has contingency plans. Provide cross-training for backup staffing."
Rausch says that Marathon has a plan for organized, systematic reductions in operations, should a pandemic make safe staffing impossible. "Since we operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it is important for us to have staff," she says. "Planning does pay off."
Emphasize medical logic
Rausch says that senior leadership looks to the corporate health services department for guidance. "My job is to remind them why certain decisions were made and the medical logic behind them," says Rausch. "Since employees can only return to work through me, I am the person interacting with HR staff and can reinforce company policy."
For example, Marathon's company policy states that if an employee is off for three days, he or she needs a note from a health care provider to return to work. However, because doctors and clinics probably will be overwhelmed, the employee will not need the note to return to work during a pandemic. "Senior management had trouble grasping the idea that we don't want these people going to the doctor for the flu, that in most cases they can be successfully treated at home," says Rausch. " Part of my job is to inform the employees how to do that and when they should go to the doctor." According to the June 2009 report The Pandemic Flu: Lessons from the Frontlines, one of the lessons learned was that even with a mild outbreak, the health care delivery system was overwhelmed. (To obtain the report, go to healthyamericans.org/report/64/pandemic-flu-frontlines. Click on "Complete Report.")
Caroll Niewolny, PHN, MS, manager of occupational health and safety for Ramsey County Human Resources in St. Paul, MN, says that part of your job is to ensure that essential employees will be able to perform their job duties without increased risk for exposure to H1N1. "Advise human resources and supervisors that employees with signs and symptoms of influenza should be home, not at work," says Niewolny.
Niewolny adds that after the public health department determined that H1N1 was acting like seasonal flu, employees were still told to go home if they had signs or symptoms of influenza, but they were not to go home from work if they were exposed to a client or co-worker who reported that they were positive for H1N1. "A big challenge was lowering the fear level to actual versus perceived, while communicating that yes, this could have been very serious," says Niewolny.
SOURCES
For more information on preparing for an H1N1 pandemic this fall, contact:
Caroll Niewolny, RN, PHN, MS, Manager, Occupational Health and Safety, Ramsey County Human Resources, St. Paul, MN. E-mail: Caroll. [email protected].
Catherine Rausch, MN, RN, Senior Occupational Health Nurse, Marathon Petroleum Co., St. Paul Park, MN. E-mail: [email protected].
Eden V. Wells, MD, MPH, Bureau of Epidemiology, Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing. Phone: (517) 335-8165. Fax: (517) 335-8263. E-mail: [email protected].
"I know John's son and wife have the flu, but John doesn't look sick, and I really need him to complete that report." As an occupational health professional, you can expect to hear many statements like this if H1N1 returns this fall as expected.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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