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 RISK MANAGEMENT
 MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS
 BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING
 EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE

How to Add Pandemic Response to

Business Continuity Plans
By Anthony S. Mangeri 
 26 March 2020 
Online Exclusive
The decisions you make today will have significant impact on your
operations for quite a while. With that in mind, taking measures today
to mitigate the potential spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-
19) is necessary to ensure not only the continuation of effective
operations today but resiliency for years to come.
Like many natural disasters, infectious diseases such as COVID-19,
Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and the
reemergence of tuberculosis can have harsh impacts to safety and
security operations—and the global economy.
For these reasons, it’s time to integrate communicable and infectious
diseases into business continuity strategies as an emerging natural
hazard. Aggressive measures to ensure a safe, sanitary, and secure
working environment are necessary to create a foundation for health,
safety, and protective service professionals.
COVID-19 is the most recent in a round of threats from emerging
highly infectious disease, and it highlights the need to continually plan
for and exercise strategies to assure readiness to respond and
maintain resiliency. Having a plan is essential to ensure the health and
safety of employees and stakeholders of any organization.
Build and Exercise Your Plan
If you have not already done so, now is the time to pull out
your pandemic preparedness plans and business continuity strategy.
Be sure to review the policies and procedures to confirm that they are
still current for your organization.
Managing the response to any threat requires understanding the threat
characteristics and profile. Mitigating the threat of emerging infectious
diseases requires planning and resources to assure that systems are
in place for operations, as well as for decision making.
Everyone, from organizations to the local government to public safety
professionals to the community, must be part of managing the threat. If
there is a state or federal declaration of an emergency or major
disaster, security professionals must examine the emergency orders to
ensure compliance.
Many federal and municipal governments across the world are
implementing social distancing mandates to manage the threat of
spreading COVID-19. In response, some companies and organizations
are requiring—or encouraging—employees work from home. Some,
however, might not have the technology infrastructure in place to
support this kind of work style. For example, employees may not have
high speed Internet for video conferencing and meetings.
To prepare for this organizational change, conduct a workshop or
tabletop exercise with leadership so everyone understands the
expectations and responsibilities of their function—even while working
remotely. Workshops are an opportunity for everyone to walk through a
discussion on the policies and procedures that are no longer valid or
may have changed in the organizational dynamic since the plan was
last updated.
Updating Your Plan
Many agencies consider communicable illnesses public health
incidents instead of slow onset disasters that require activation of crisis
management systems. Similar to natural hazards, a pandemic will
threaten organizational normalcy by disrupting day-to-day business
operations and community activities. For this reason, private sector
business continuity and public sector emergency planners need to
consider emerging infectious diseases as part of their Threat and
Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) and Business
Impact Analysis process.
Community mitigation strategies for pandemics may include social
distancing and isolation of exposed individuals, along with quarantine
of those who are infected or ill. These strategies require activation of
jurisdictions’ emergency operations plans to cancel public gatherings
and events, and to create points for monitoring residents.
Traditionally, preparedness for pandemics has included the need for
discussions on how to be prepared for up to 40 percent of your
organization unable to report to work. This may be because of social
distancing requirements, infection, or the need to provide care to
someone who is infected. Organizations need to think through how
they will handle employees who cannot report to work while continuing
to effectively operate.
To help make these decisions on staff, organizations should review
World Health Organization (WHO) and national health sites—like the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—for best
practices. They should also be familiar with, and routinely monitor,
recommendations and guidelines from state and local health
authorities.
In areas with high exposure risk or isolation orders, organizations
should limit facility access to only essential personnel necessary for
operations. Organizations should also consider creating a safety
parameter for monitoring entry. For instance, the White House has
begun conducting temperature checks before allowing reporters into
the press briefing room.
Additionally, all personnel should be advised not to report to work if
they are sick or experiencing flu-like symptoms. All staff who routinely
come into contact with the public or surfaces exposed to the public
should wear exam gloves on site.
Communicate with Your Stakeholders
All organizations mut have a strategy to keep employees,
stakeholders, and regulatory authorities informed—as appropriate—
through consistent, concise messaging. Communication systems and
processes are the essential tools to tell your story and manage
perceptions about how you are handling the coronavirus pandemic.
Organizations should provide information across multiple platforms,
exercising and evaluating each to determine what works best for
messaging. It is unsettling when information is not available. The lack
of information can cause emotions to run high. Providing validated
information will go a long way towards preventing gossip and
speculation.
Exercise your organization’s communication plan. Stay on message
and provide accurate, credible information to media outlets and
Intranet services.

Anthony S. Mangeri, MPA, CEM, EMT, is chair of the ASIS Fire and
Life Safety Community. He has more than 30 years of experience in
crisis management and public safety, and is a consultant focused on
emergency management, planning, training, and exercising. He serves
on several professional committees, including the IAEM USA Board of
Directors. Mangeri earned a Master of Public Administration from
Rutgers University and has completed a fellowship in public health
preparedness and emergency response.
Article ©2020 Anthony Mangeri
For more information and resources on COVID-19 response, please
visit the ASIS Disease Outbreak Security Resources page