How Your Company Can Protect Itself from a Coronavirus (COVID-19) Crisis Using D4H

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1. Maintain a real-time situation report
2. Create a chronological decision log
3. Keep track of infections at each location
4. Know the virus impact on each service, division, and department
5. Are your suppliers impacted by infection?
6. Make pandemic readiness checklists for each location
7. Track Regional Travel Restrictions
8. Confidential Infection Case Management
9. Make a dashboard of total infected numbers
10. Integrate with the public safety Incident Command System (ICS)

1. Maintain a real-time situation report

It’s important to maintain an up-to-date and accessible ‘Sitrep’ (Situation Report) on the threat to your business. This should be a shared board with real-time documentation of the current threat to health and the strategic objectives you’re working on.

Go through each of the financial impacts, customer impacts, employee impacts, and building impacts to keep current of where you’re at.

Project out what this incident looks like with regard to escalation over the next 24 hours and how that will change over the next 72 hours (3 Days). Finally, look broadly at anticipated impact and spread beyond 72 hours.

2. Create a chronological decision log

Make sure your leadership has an easy way to chronologically log any decisions they make or actions taken. Any software you use should keep an automatic audit trail of all status updates which is easy to export afterward. Remember, all decisions should be defensible. This is achieved by knowing the source of where all information came from and at what time you had access to it.

3. Keep track of infections at each location

Pandemic events are geographical. Unlike cyber, people need physical contact to be affected. It’s important to understand the knock-on impact on each of your buildings by location. Plot your buildings and sites on a map, and give each a status:Operating Normally - No impact.Operating Remotely - Full service by remote workers.Limited Services - Some services have been reduced.Location Closed - No services from this location.For each location, you should know the normal headcount (number at risk), the number isolated for preventative health reasons (due to family infection or vulnerability), and the number infected with the virus.

4. Know the virus impact on each service, division, and department

Every business operates within teams that provide a function. Whether it’s sales, IT, marketing, manufacturing, regulatory, HR, or other - all of these teams have inputs and outputs you need to track. List each team on a shared board with its current operating status and give leadership the ability to update their division’s details. Consider using RAG (Red, Amber, Green) colors to easily visualize and group teams of a similar status.

5. Are your suppliers impacted by infection?

Vendors, suppliers, and service providers are all critical elements for your business. Track them on a shared board with current status, and keep logs of each update from them. If they are impacted by an infection, keep running estimates of when they think they will be back operational. Have you all the supplies you need? Hand sanitizer is already out of stock at many suppliers, create lists for everything you need a supply of for the next weeks.

6. Make pandemic readiness checklists for each location

COVID-19 is easily preventable through good hand hygiene, disinfecting surfaces, and educating employees on self-isolation and what to do if they cough or sneeze. Create checklists for each office or shop location and have them complete their progression. Make sure it is easy to interpret a progress chart for each and help those who are falling behind.

7. Track Regional Travel Restrictions

Your business may decide to limit certain types of travel either in or out of a country or region. Make a shared list of all travel exclusions with up to date information on approvals, and if required, case-manage each traveling employee.

8. Confidential Infection Case Management

If an employee is thought to be infected due to the presence of COVID-19 symptoms, create a case file for them, and log all updates you receive from the employee or the department of health regarding their case. Ensure the health and wellbeing of all employees infected through adaptive working conditions.

9. Make a dashboard of total infected numbers

Get an overall dashboard of numbers showing those infected. Pull information from all of your boards, maps, and checklists into a common operating picture. A metrics dashboard is important but should always be used along with your dynamic situation report to put real-world context on the numbers through long-form text.

10. Integrate with the public safety Incident Command System (ICS)

When dealing with an incident at government or public safety level they will be using command systems and terminology such as ICS (The United States & Canada), AIMS (Australia), and CIMS (New Zealand). Match their system internally by using the same forms, language, templates, vocabulary, and roles that fit directly into public safety reporting without any adaption.