Businesses Note Bird Flu Concerns

"It's a concern," says Vasil, whose organization is sponsoring a forum on pandemic preparedness in conjunction with the Building Owners and Managers Association. The event, which will be held today at 60 State St., is designed to educate building owners and real estate professionals on how to ensure business continuity, protect employees and defend properties in the event of a global outbreak.

"Companies, even if they are small, should figure out what to do, how this will affect their work force," says Vasil, noting that risk management and insurance firms may be able to assist in developing strategies to deal with the threat. Jeff Cook, senior director of real estate operations for a national investment group who is among the speakers, tells GlobeSt.com that businesses need to develop company-wide plans to deal with a pandemic that include operational and tactical strategies.

"If you're a corporation and you haven't been thinking about this, you're behind the curve," Cook says. Among the approaches Cook suggests is creating a cross-functional team to deal with security, health and other issues businesses may encounter in the event of a disease disaster. "Make sure you identify critical operations and services." He notes that companies should also develop security measures to weed out infected visitors, perhaps through temperature screening or other methods to identify potential risks.

Managers also need to be educated about the infection and trained in recognizing early symptoms, Cook adds. "Everyone should really start partnering with their peers for information sharing and they should work with health organizations."

One of the first steps in protecting properties is an assessment of building operations and infrastructure to identify areas that will be vulnerable to exposure, according to a paper on pandemic preparedness developed by the Jones Lang LaSalle Group in Chicago. The company also advised businesses to, among other things, provide sanitation stations for hand disinfecting at building entrances, inspect and maintain HVAC systems and create a management succession plan to keep critical operations and services working even if many workers cannot.