Council readies itself to battle through swine flu pandemic

Westmeath County Council is making good progress with a plan drawn up last month, which see the local authority and its service providers through in the event of a local swine flu outbreak, an official said this week.The Westmeath Local Authorities' Business Continuity Plan for Pandemic Influenza, completed on July 24, was put together amid concerns that the swine flu pandemic would result in large numbers of Council staff being out of work at the same time.But Roibeard Ó Ceallaigh, Senior Executive Officer, Corporate Services, reckons that barring a worse case scenario, members of the public will not notice any difference in service standards, even if Mullingar is hit hard by the H1N1 virus."At the moment, our sections are reviewing internally what the priority jobs are," he said, explaining that vital services, such as water and fire/emergency services, are top of the list."We're watching the progress of swine flu on a daily basis. Thankfully it hasn't taken off yet in terms of numbers, but if or when it does, we have a plan that we will put into place," he continued."We hope that in the event of the plan being activated, members of the public mightn't see any difference to the services we provide. But hopefully we won't need it."Mr. Ó Ceallaigh said that when it comes to keeping vital services motoring, it's likely that a swine flu outbreak would have more of a "slow burning" effect than an immediate, devastating disaster - making it all the more manageable."Our main concern will be to make sure that our people get well as soon as possible," he added.The eighteen page Business Continuity Plan, which includes a further nineteen pages of appendices, was circulated internally at Westmeath County Council's offices at the beginning of August.Central to the plan is the rolling out of a series of new work practices, such as the use of hand cleansing stations within Council buildings; the vaccination of key staff, and the placing of restrictions on "non-essential" travel.Other proposed measures include a reduction in the level of "close-to-customer access", and the closure/reduced use of staff facilities which may increase the chances of infection, e.g. canteens.The Council's Business Continuity Crisis Management Team will be activated when Ireland is upgraded to Alert Level 3 of the EU Pandemic Framework, that is, when a substantial outbreak has been confirmed in Ireland.Managers and other key staff will be asked to nominate deputies in the event that they are incapacitated by the virus, while policies may be prepared to introduce flexible work locations (for example, tele-working) or flexible work times (shift working).