The President has rendered the swine (H1N1) influenza blow-up a national emergency. According to an October 2009 FluView announcement conveyed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been 32,814 documented cases of the swine flu on a national scale. This quantity does not take into consideration avian (H5N1) virus (bird flu) or seasonal virus cases. And virus movement is, at this point, common in all but 2 states!

You may possibly be asking yourself, “How does this bear upon me and my family? And what could I feasibly do regarding it?” There are particular solid steps you can take now to help safeguard you and your loved ones if the H1N1 influenza epidemic invades your area (for all one knows it already has). Added to some good hygiene reminders, valid flu epidemic guidance (at http://www.fight-the-flu.net) and an ‘H1N1 influenza pandemic kit’ (info at http://www.squidoo.com/swine-flu-prevention-and-pandemic-kits) are the most practical actions you can undertake without delay.

So what is a swine virus pandemic kit?

Don’t mistake a swine virus ‘pandemic kit’ with a swine virus ‘test kit’, which is used to determine if an individual has the swine virus. Simply put, a swine influenza pandemic kit is an integrated accumulation of preventive knowledge and necessities that you could draw on throughout an influenza pandemic or epidemic emergency. Please do not reckon that an influenza pandemic kit will fix up a person who comes down with the influenza. You want to get medical help for the suffering person if possible, as soon as possible!

You can procure professed ‘all-in-one’ standalone epidemic emergency kits, but you’re almost certainly better off putting together a personal kit on your own. Henceforward, YOU control the options, financial investment, AND worth of your kit. But, if you own or bank on obtaining a standalone kit, you could continually renovate it by depositing more items to it. In an emergency, possessing no more than a standalone kit is further along than having nothing at all. But think over that it’s singularly an ‘elementary’ kit on its way to growing into a specially made, at-the-ready pandemic kit.

A plentifully fitted swine (H1N1) flu pandemic kit in addition metes out resistance and treatment for other classes of influenza pandemics or epidemics, such as the avian (H5N1) virus (bird influenza) and seasonal influenza. Scores of preparedness supplies will come in handy for further emergencies also, from an ordinary power failure to a biological, chemical, or nuclear incident.

Ensuring continuity – even survival – of your small business in the event the H1N1 flu pandemic spirals “out of control” is not a matter to be taken lightly.The items to be addressed total up to a daunting list. Ignoring the problem is no longer a viable option. But there is a new, viable and FREE option for getting businesses educated and prepared.

A new training webcast for business leaders: “Planning and Response to the H1N1 Flu Pandemic” is a great place to start. This hourlong webcast, produced along the lines of a “20/20 newscast,” explains in simple language what business leaders need to know now.

This valuable instructional webcast is comprised of segments, or “chapters”, that address:
1. How to protect employees from contamination.
2. How to secure your inputs to production – materials, supplier services, funding – when those entities are experiencing business disruption.
3. How to cross-train employees for continued functioning of key positions
4. How to establish satellite stocks of equipment and supplies accessible to healthy employees to keep them functioning away from an “unhealthy” headquarters.
5. How to establish, communicate and enforce sensible “sick policies.”

“Flu Pandemic: Crisis and Response” has been in production for over a year – well before H1N1 had ever been heard of. It is a joint production of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the All Hazards Training Center of the University of Findlay (Ohio). It was shown live on June 11, 2009 – the very day the World Health Organization declared H1N1 a worldwide pandemic – and now is available as a free on-demand training webcast. Accompanying the video instruction is a set of downloadable useful documents, including a planning template you can use to develop a response plan for your own business. You can stop/start/replay any portion of the webcast and even submit questions for the experts at the University, who will answer you via e-mail.

This webcast training tool is available 24/7 and it’s free, so “tune in” soon and get your team focused on an H1N1 flu response plan that will help ensure the ongoing continuity of your business.

An old saying goes “Hope is NOT a strategy.” Yet many business executives were HOPING that a vaccine for the H1N1 flu would be the answer to minimizing workforce absenteeism and illness during the annual flu season. With H1N1vaccines in such short supplylargely unavailable that even the most vulnerable demographicscannot get them, it’s time to adoptanother strategy.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), has been developing business emergency planning and response programs for years. Recently, OSHA partnered with the University of Findlay’s All Hazards Training Center (AHTC) to produce a timely video webcast for small business owners and executives. This training tool, “Pandemic: Crisis and Response”, is available online for free viewing.

In addition to the actual video itself, this H1N1 flu response training site offers several planning aids viewers can take advantage of. These include:

- A pandemic planning template that you can use for your own company,
- A summary of key planning topics to use with response planning teams,
- A FAQs section that handles questions that have arisen from other webcast viewers,
- A list of other relevant training resources.

“Pandemic: Crisis and Preparation” is the newest of the All Hazards Training Center’s series of ALERT video-based training webcasts. ALERT stands for “Actual Learning Environment Response Training” and is a state-of-the-art online training delivery system that uses high-quality video – often captured live as part of the webcast – with interviews of topicexperts or panels and viewer question and answer participation. ALERT webcasts have received accolades from viewers for their usefulness, relevance and accessibility.

This special H1N1 Flu Panedemic training webcast was produced in order to address how a business should prepare for and manage through the H1N1 flu crisis. Primary topics covered are:

1. How to safeguard employees from contamination.
2. How to secure the key factors of production – materials, supplier services, funding – when those items are undergoing their own business disruption.
3. How to cross-train employees for continued functioning of key positions.
4. How to establish satelliteremote stocks of equipment and supplies accessible to unaffected employees to keep them productive while away from an “unhealthy” headquarters.
5. How to set up, communicate and enforce practical “sick policies.”

After watching the webcast – and re-viewing certain topics, as the training is broken up into distinct topic areas – your operations planners can apply the concepts to your own company using the included Pandemic Planning and Response Template. While response to the H1N1 pandemic will be the most immediate application, viewers will see that the template is an excellent general tool for any situations where business continuity and survival in the event of an extended crisis are at risk.

H1N1 flu is likely to be a recurring crisis beyond the 2009-2010 flu season. Viruses have a pattern of adapting to become resistant to the remedies initially developed to address them. So rather than relying on the federal government or local health department to protect your employees – thinking that’s all that can be done – it (makes sense|is time} to get proactive. Watch “Pandemic” Crisis and Response” from OSHA and the Findlay’s All Hazards Training Center and begin the planning process for long term business survival in the face of H1N1 or other prolonged external pandemic threats to your company.

The University of Findlay’s All Hazards Training Center has trained over 125,000 people coast-to-coast and awarded academic degrees to more than 1,150 people. In 2008 alone UF trained more than 11,500 people in over 480 classes at more than 215 different locations in 20 states and Canada. The major strengths of the training center include: flexibility, experience, depth of instructional staff, and the ability to manage multiple training programs conducted simultaneously at various locations across the United States.

An old saying goes “Hope is NOT a strategy.” Yet many business executives were HOPING that a vaccine for the H1N1 flu would be the answer to minimizing workforce absenteeism and illness during the annual flu season. With H1N1vaccines in such short supplylargely unavailable that even the most vulnerable demographicscannot get them, it’s time to adoptanother strategy.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), has been developing business emergency planning and response programs for years. Recently, OSHA partnered with the University of Findlay’s All Hazards Training Center (AHTC) to produce a timely video webcast for small business owners and executives. This training tool, “Pandemic: Crisis and Response”, is available online for free viewing.

In addition to the actual video itself, this H1N1 flu response training site offers several planning aids viewers can take advantage of. These include:

- A pandemic planning template that you can use for your own company,
- A summary of key planning topics to use with response planning teams,
- A FAQs section that handles questions that have arisen from other webcast viewers,
- A list of other relevant training resources.

“Pandemic: Crisis and Preparation” is the newest of the All Hazards Training Center’s series of ALERT video-based training webcasts. ALERT stands for “Actual Learning Environment Response Training” and is a state-of-the-art online training delivery system that uses high-quality video – often captured live as part of the webcast – with interviews of topicexperts or panels and viewer question and answer participation. ALERT webcasts have received accolades from viewers for their usefulness, relevance and accessibility.

This special H1N1 Flu Panedemic training webcast was produced in order to address how a business should prepare for and manage through the H1N1 flu crisis. Primary topics covered are:

1. How to safeguard employees from contamination.
2. How to secure the key factors of production – materials, supplier services, funding – when those items are undergoing their own business disruption.
3. How to cross-train employees for continued functioning of key positions.
4. How to establish satelliteremote stocks of equipment and supplies accessible to unaffected employees to keep them productive while away from an “unhealthy” headquarters.
5. How to set up, communicate and enforce practical “sick policies.”

After watching the webcast – and re-viewing certain topics, as the training is broken up into distinct topic areas – your operations planners can apply the concepts to your own company using the included Pandemic Planning and Response Template. While response to the H1N1 pandemic will be the most immediate application, viewers will see that the template is an excellent general tool for any situations where business continuity and survival in the event of an extended crisis are at risk.

H1N1 flu is likely to be a recurring crisis beyond the 2009-2010 flu season. Viruses have a pattern of adapting to become resistant to the remedies initially developed to address them. So rather than relying on the federal government or local health department to protect your employees – thinking that’s all that can be done – it (makes sense|is time} to get proactive. Watch “Pandemic” Crisis and Response” from OSHA and the Findlay’s All Hazards Training Center and begin the planning process for long term business survival in the face of H1N1 or other prolonged external pandemic threats to your company.

The University of Findlay’s All Hazards Training Center has trained over 125,000 people coast-to-coast and awarded academic degrees to more than 1,150 people. In 2008 alone UF trained more than 11,500 people in over 480 classes at more than 215 different locations in 20 states and Canada. The major strengths of the training center include: flexibility, experience, depth of instructional staff, and the ability to manage multiple training programs conducted simultaneously at various locations across the United States.