Aon urges firms to review continuity plans as swine flu spreads

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Aon urges firms to review continuity plans as swine flu spreads

After the false predictions of SARS and more recently H5N1 bird flu pandemics, the swine flu outbreak in Mexico has already spread rapidly and is capable of passing from human to human.

Aon Global Risk Consulting’s head of enterprise risk management Alex Hindson has commented on the rapidly developing swine flu situation and urged firms to comprehensively review their Business Continuity Management arrangements.

This will help protect the employees’ of a given firm, but companies also need to plan carefully for the possibility of unexpectedly absent staff.

With the economy in the doldrums and the financial sector still weak, confidence amongst consumers and businesses remains fragile and it is essential for firms to ensure they have robust contingency plans in place should the outbreak worsen.

The BBC has reported that there are confirmed cases in New Zealand, US, Canada, Spain and Britain.

As yet there have been no fatalities as a result of swine flu outside of Mexico where the disease is thought to have originated.