ORC Testifies at House Hearing on Flu Preparedness

Submitted by james.nash on May 6, 2009 - 5:27pm

At a May 7 hearing held by the House Committee on Education and Labor, ORC Worldwide Senior Consultant Ann Brockhaus explained how many leading companies are ensuring that workers are protected from emerging infectioius diseases, such as the H1N1 influenza virus. 

Relying on two recent teleconferences attended by hundreds of participants from ORC member companies as well as preliminary results from a survey conducted by ORC, Ms. Brockhaus identified three critical lessons learned thus far about how companies can respond most appropriately to the H1N1 outbreak.

  1. Advance Planning Counts!  Companies benefited from having already implemented responsible emergency preparedness planning, much of it developed in response to SARS and Avian flu.

  • Timely and Consistent Governmental Information and Guidance is Critical.  The timeliness of the government messaging about the outbreak – at the federal, state and local level – has proven to be essential to company efforts to respond effectively to the outbreak.

  • Making Pandemic Flu Planning Part of an Overall Safety and Health Management System Optimizes Protection of Workers and Helps to Ensure Business Continuity.  Placing influenza preparedness in a broader context, ORC Worldwide has long maintained that the best way to protect workers and companies is to implement an occupational safety and health management system focused on the reduction of all workplace safety and health risks.

    • The transcripts of Ms. Brockhaus's written testimony and oral testimony are available online (See attachments listed below). The archived webcast of the House hearing can be accessed at the following URL: http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2009/05/ensuring-preparedness-against.shtml.

    More information about ORC's survey on swine flu preparedness should be available by May 12. Reporters interested in this survey or additional information on ORC's continuinig response to Influenza A (H1N1) should call James Nash at (202) 822-3699.

     

    AttachmentSize
    ORCWrittenTestimony05.07.09.pdf42.62 KB
    ORCOralTestimony05.07.09.pdf39.65 KB