June 12, 2006—The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) has published the results of a survey into the pandemic preparedness which aimed to ‘see if organizations consider pandemic flu as a threat’ and to document ‘what types of plans subsequently have been developed.’
49 percent of respondents said that senior management in their organization considered that a pandemic ‘flu outbreak would be a serious threat to their business.’
Respondents were invited to report on their company’s current response to pandemic flu:
- 7 percent said that pandemic plans were completed and implemented.
- 41 percent said that their organization was in the progress of creating its plans.
- 18 percent felt that pandemic issues were addressed in standard business continuity plans with no additional actions being required.
- 34 percent said that pandemic planning has not yet been considered by their company.
Of the companies that had completed pandemic plans or were working on them, these plans covered:
- Staffing: 91 percent of respondents
- Facilities: 83 percent
- Security: 67 percent
- Customers/visitors: 63 percent
- Vendors: 48 percent
- Food service: 43 percent
- Other: 13 percent (including travel, patients, research animals, community, employees’ families.)
596 members of the International Facility Management Association responded to the survey. The majority of responses were from the US, but many other countries were represented. For more information, visit the IFMA Web site.
