# 3646
Earlier today Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano held a web conference / presser on workplace preparations for a pandemic this fall and winter.
The link on the flu.gov page for the archive of this broadcast isn’t working yet, but I expect will be operational shortly.
(Click Image to go to toolkit)
The HHS unveiled a `toolkit’, essentially a group of documents designed to help businesses prepare their workplaces for a pandemic. Two of these guidance recently updated guidance documents include:
- CDC Guidance for Businesses, Employers, and Workplaces to Plan and Respond to 2009 H1N1 Influenza
- Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Businesses and Employers
While a great many points were made in today’s webcast, prime among them were:
- Employers should encourage workers to stay home if they are sick
- Employers should not require a doctor’s note for absences during this flu season
- Employers should encourage vaccination, and help facilitate important hygiene practices like hand washing, and the use of hand sanitizers, and coughing etiquette.
- Employers should work on `cross-training’ workers to perform critical functions during times of high absenteeism.
- Workplaces should be kept clean and disinfected to help prevent the spread of the virus
Maggie Fox brings us more on today’s conference, in her report from Reuters.
Let workers with flu stay home, U.S. tells businesses
Wed Aug 19, 2009 2:02pm EDT
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Businesses should encourage employees to stay home sick at the first symptom of swine flu and should drop requirements for doctor's excuses during flu season, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
Employers should also encourage vaccination against both seasonal and H1N1 swine flu, the officials said.
"If an employee stays home sick, it is not only the best thing for his health, but it is also the best thing for his co-workers," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told a news conference.
Requirements to get a doctor's note to validate illness should be waived, Locke said. "It has the potential to overload the healthcare system that is likely to be stressed during this year's flu season," he said.
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