TUC advises employers to plan for flu outbreak

Prepare for a flu pandemic but don’t panic – that’s the TUC’s message in guidance published last month.

Given the worst-case scenario of up to half the population becoming ill over a three- to six-month period, with as many as 750,000 deaths as a result, any outbreak could have a massive affect on UK workplaces. So the TUC advises employers to develop contingency plans for coping if an outbreak occurs.

Warning of the possibility that employers could fall victim to “snake-oil” salesmen, as happened during the outbreak of the respiratory disease SARS in 2002/03, the guidance urges employers not to panic or stockpile products such as latex gloves or retroviral drugs – which could have no impact on the spread of the virus anyway.

For more information, visit www.tuc.org.uk/extras/fluguidance.pdf