CHEAT SHEET
■ Travel considerations. Under the OSH Act, an
employee may refuse to accept an assignment
because he or she reasonably believes that
his or her health would be endangered.
■;Stop the spread. Employers may require
employees to adopt infection control practices
during a pandemic, such as telecommuting,
regular hand washing, proper sneezing etiquette,
and the use of personal protective gear.
■;Building a resistance. The US Department
of Health and Human Services has advised
employers to begin pandemic planning by
identifying a “pandemic coordinator and/or team
with defined responsibilities for preparedness.”
■;Word of mouth. Employers should actively
train employees on how to respond to a health
crisis by addressing misconceptions and being
a resource for questions or concerns.
By Jennifer Sadoff and David Kurtz Few things engender more fear and fascination than
the latest pandemic reaching our front doors. Movies like Outbreak, Contagion,
and 28 Days Later are cultural landmarks. The Walking Dead, a US-based
television drama about a viral outbreak that leads to a zombie apocalypse,
continues to rank among the highest rated shows on television. Unfortunately,
the nightly news also delivers a nonfiction dose of real health crises. In 2009,
the World Health Organization ( WHO) labeled the H1N1/swine flu a pandemic,
marking the first pandemic (a worldwide epidemic) since the 1968 Hong Kong
Flu. The streets were quickly filled with people wearing surgical masks and
every public sneeze sent crowds scurrying. In 2014, the Ebola scare reached the
United States. Despite only a handful of confirmed domestic cases, the news
of the famously lethal virus spread rapidly and led to unparalleled public health
fears. In 2016, the threat of the Zika virus stirred fear in pregnant women and
their partners about the health of their unborn children, even if they lived far
from areas with a known transmission.
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