A Case Study
UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide Inc. Business Continuity Planning Case Study
In early 2006, UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide Inc. (UCW Adelaide) recognised the need to prepare for the possible impacts of an influenza pandemic or sustained disease outbreak. UCW Adelaide initially based its planning on information on the internet, and then developed plans that uniquely suited UCW Adelaide.
UCW Adelaide originally thought it could simply ‘fill in’ a continuity planning template. Instead, it found that developing an organisational continuity plan was a very interactive process.
In developing its business continuity plan, UCW Adelaide took the following steps to ensure it is prepared for the impact of a human influenza pandemic.
1. Planning in phases
To help think about which activities might be necessary during a pandemic, UCW Adelaide developed a series of phases and considered the activities that should occur in each phase:
- Build up phase (prior to a pandemic alert)
- Alert phase (when a pandemic is imminent)
- Active phase (when the pandemic is having an effect)
- Recovery (trying to get back to normal).
2. Reviewing all programs
UCW Adelaide reviewed all its programs to determine which it would continue to operate and which could stop during a pandemic. It considered this in the context of a number of scenarios of different duration (i.e. days, weeks or in a number of waves). It also considered a scenario where it was significantly affected and another that had minimal effect.
From these scenarios UCW Adelaide concluded:
- Some activities were needed (e.g. raising standards of hygiene) and there were many ways of achieving this (e.g. hand washing instructions in bathrooms, replacing linen towels with paper towels, developing cleaning specifications for all working sites, regardless of who is doing the cleaning)
- It would be beneficial to eliminate some risks to the organisation now by introducing hygiene arrangements gently, increasing these as the need arises. In undertaking this review, UCW Adelaide considered the relevant legislation.
3. Considering their financial position
UCW Adelaide is undertaking activities to ensure continued funding will be available to it in a pandemic. These activities include:
- Discussing with funding organisations how funding might be affected under contractual arrangements if services are unable to be delivered
- Discussing with their bank about the length of time they would be prepared to continue financing the organisation in the event that electronic fund transfer deposits were not working
- Reviewing insurance coverage to ensure it was covered for key risks in a pandemicExamining contracts with both government and clients and identifying where any modifications might be needed. For example, including a clause with personal care services that allows them to vary the hours of care provided in a crisis.
4. Pandemic management and staff wellbeing
UCW Adelaide has appointed a Pandemic Manager and is putting a number of arrangements in place to manage staffing issues, including:
- Deciding to pay all staff four weeks sick leave if they are ill
- Developing care plans for vulnerable staff and clients, for example identifying staff who are single parents, and understanding their support needs
- Upgrading staff contact details through the human resources area, actively checking and re-confirming the accuracy of telephone, email, mobile and street address information. This will allow the organisation to follow up with and support staff, ensuring important information reaches them
- Working on how to manage ill staff, including a policy to send ill employees and staff home and monitoring staff who have been sent home to ensure they return to work as soon as they are well, while ensuring uninfected staff will not be exposed to unsafe working conditions
- Identifying staff with specialised training or skills. For example, there may be staff with some medical training that could assist in some way
- Keeping staff informed about the spread of the virus overseas and of any cases in Australia, should they occur
- Identifying (with sensitivity) staff that may be particularly vulnerable, for example those who have experienced previous trauma
- Providing counselling for those who need it, rather than for everybody.
5. Staff management and training
By altering the usual authority and delegation levels, UCW Adelaide is providing more staff with the appropriate authority to take action and make decisions when other staff may be sick. In addition, it plans to cross-train staff on a range of functions.
6. Service delivery
UCW Adelaide is considering alternative ways of service delivery to minimise contact, such as moving from face-to-face to telephone or web based support, where possible.
7. Communication
The development of an internal communication strategy will ensure that staff is kept well‑informed about any cases of the virus and its spread. This will involve regular announcements from the CEO and, if necessary, information will be printed and hand delivered to staff if there is a break down in electronic forms of communication.
8. Recovery
During recovery, the ultimate aim will be for the organisation to return to normal as soon as possible. Reputation management will be important for UCW during a pandemic and non-government organisations will need to work together. UCW Adelaide has identified a number of questions they need to ask in preparation for the recovery effort:
- If there is a 5–10 per cent drop in gross domestic product as some observers are indicating, then what will the flow on effects be?
- Will it continue to receive government funding for its services?
- How easy would it be to take out loans to replace or build up businesses?
- What would be the impact on donations and fundraising?
UCW Adelaide acknowledges the importance of recovery and planning is ongoing.