New Jersey Firms Get Ready for H1N1

Facility workers are wiping down door handles and elevator buttons at the offices of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

PSEG has handed out flu medicine to its employees and their family members, and has stockpiled ready-to-eat meals for in-office employees and personal protective equipment for workers who work outside company offices.

Hand sanitizers are all over the building at Global Crossing headquarters in Florham Park.

The flu season is here. And this year, companies are taking extra steps to prevent an outbreak of H1N1, known to some as swine flu. In case prevention doesn’t work, they are preparing for the possibility of widespread employee absences. A report delivered to the White House last month suggested H1N1 could infect half the U.S. population, more than double the number that occurs in an average flue season.

“The big companies have in-house experts that handle business continuity issues, but many small and mid-size companies haven’t given thought to what they would do in case of high absentee rates,” said Matt Conlon, vice president of market development at Cantel Medical Corp., a Little Falls-based provider of infection prevention and control products. “There is a lot companies can do.”

Though H1N1 is not as dangerous as experts initially feared, it is easily transmittable, making it a serious concern.

The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce will sponsor a seminar at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Monroe on Sept. 30 that is designed to advise business operators how to plan for and weather a flu outbreak.

“A lot of companies call me and say, ‘Can you give me a template for a pandemic preparedness plan?’” Conlon said. “I don’t do that because every company is very different. They need to ask what’s right for their organizations. At the seminar, we’ll cover every aspect of the physical threats and the threat to business.”

To read full State Chamber story on H1N1 and tips for your business, click here.