Experts are predicting that we are due for another pandemic, so now is the time to ensure that our plans cover as much as possible and that staff are trained and educated on their responsibilities should such an event occur. Many organizations have started to plan or have completed plans for responding to a pandemic event. Security departments/organizations need to ensure that they are preparing as well or involved with their organization's planning process.

Most of the processes you will complete when designing an infectious disease outbreak plan will overlap with other response plans such Emergency Management Plans (EMP), Business Continuity Plans — (BCP).
You will need to assess your department responsibilities and decide which activities are essential and what can be discontinued during the emergency response. This is one of the components that should be covered in your BCP plan. The Incident Management System is a good tool to assist with how your department will respond to various emergencies. However it would be even more beneficial if your organization was on board with IMS for easier community response.

When an infectious disease outbreak occurs, there can be directives from the government. Depending on where the outbreak occurs will dictate which governments are involved. A global pandemic would involve all levels of government within Canada. They will provide direction to health-care facilities regarding what they can and can not do. During Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) there were visitor restrictions which created many issues for security. Restrictions included family members not able to visit their loved ones in long term care facilities as well as first time fathers not being able to see their child being born. When visitation privileges resumed most facilities put additional visitor control measures in place which was only one of the many changes that tool place post SARS.

The main areas that need to be addressed in an organization are facility information, staffing, equipment, training, access/egress, communications and recovery.

1 Facilities

Areas that you should have information on are as follows:
Ӣ Size of your facility (number of square feet);
Ӣ Number of entrances/exits the facility has;
Ӣ Number of magnetic locked doors;
Ӣ Number of beds;
Ӣ Number of patients;
Ӣ Number of makeshift patient areas

This is information that should be readily available for general planning purposes and responses to emergencies.

High-risk areas need to receive extra attention during an infectious disease outbreak if any vaccines/antivirals and supplies such as masks are being stored. Theft will be an issue if people think they can help themselves and give to their family.

2  Staffing

Security department information can be divided into a couple of categories; staffing and program information.
The health-care industry is made up of a variety of in-house and contract security programs as other sectors of security are. It is important to ensure that you understand the advantages and challenges that each of these programs have.

In-House Programs:
”¢    Detailed schedules that have the flexibility to add in additional staffing for the emergency response.
”¢  Your staffing numbers (full time, part time, casual):
Ӣ Where can you obtain additional officer support if required (need to hire, agreement with another facility, contract services if your collective agreement allows, etc,);
Ӣ Security competencies for your organization;
”¢ Cross contamination issues — in-house officers that work for other in-house programs may be restricted to one hospital or not allowed to work at all;
Ӣ Pandemic Planning assumptions predict 35 per cent loss of staff over an 18 month period (spread out this would be approximately 4 per cent per month)
”¢    Understand your collective agreement.
”¢    Do you have a fan out/call back systems and are they updated regularly?
”¢   Can hospital staff be utilized for some security functions? If so how will they be identified?

Contract Programs
”¢   You will need detailed schedules that have the flexibility to add in additional staffing for the emergency response.
”¢  Do you know your staffing numbers (full time, part time, casual)?
Ӣ Where can you obtain additional officer support if required (need to hire, agreement with another contract company)?
Ӣ Are you going to be able to fulfill your contractual agreements with a staffing shortage?
Ӣ What are the security competencies for your organization?
”¢ Cross contamination issues — will officers be restricted to one site or not allowed to work at all?
”¢    Understand your collective agreement if the officers have a union.
”¢    Do you have a fan out/call back systems and are they updated regularly?

3  Equipment

Having an inventory of your equipment is important. Most programs can operate with the equipment in place on a day-to-day basis. The question is do you have enough equipment to support additional officers? A quick list of the basic equipment that most security department will include:
”¢ Radios            ”¢ Caution tape
”¢ Traffic cones/barricades    ”¢ Pedestrian control equipment
”¢ Door signage        ”¢ Bull horn
”¢ Identification (staffing, visitor, emergency ID’s, etc.)
Ӣ Uniforms (summer and winter)

There are many more items that most security departments would have but you should think about what you may need extra of and start your own departmental stock pile. However, make sure that any items that expire are rotated into daily use so they are not wasted.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) may be used during the response to an infectious disease outbreak at the decision of your organizations infection control professional or as a governmental directive. These are supplies that should be stockpiled in the facility but you should make sure there would be enough for your department and any additional officers you may have working.
”¢ Gowns        ”¢ Masks
”¢ Gloves        ”¢ Hand sanitizer


4  Training/Educating/ Exercising

Having a plan and training/educating officers in your organization is a great start. As we have learned from past emergencies, we need to work with other organizations and governments to overcome the problem. This is why it is very important to include other organizations and government agencies with your training and exercises and ensure they are invited to participate with your organization.

5  Access/Egress Control

If your facility needs to lockdown during an infectious disease outbreak, you need to ensure that you are capable of doing so. Many facilities increased the number of magnetic locked doors after SARS due to the number of officers they had to pay to sit at a door to ensure no one entered or exited. Even with magnetic locked doors you need to ensure that they have not been propped open through routine patrols. Most of us in the Security and Emergency Management world like to be there to support an emergency, but it is important to ensure that officers don’t burn out through schedules or working to many hours. Working through a biological event that could possibly by nature reduce your staffing levels, needs to be monitored to ensure that you are not the cause of the officer not being able to work.

Access/egress control needs to be reviewed as during an emergency this will take additional resources. When restricting access to a health-care facility for a biological event it is important to ensure that a doctor, nurse, infection control practitioner or other professional is stationed with the officer to address any medical concerns. A plan outlining which doors will be used for what, supplies, staffing, etc. are important so that access control can be ramped up quickly.

6  Communications

Communications has always been an issue in emergency response. Many issues could be avoided if we ensured better communications. It is an advantage to manage a department within large organization as you use some of their ideas for your department. Look at the ways the hospital is communicating internally and externally and use these methods for your own communication processes. Briefings, memos, and emails are just some of the methods you can use to ensure that your security department is well informed.
Liaising with other stakeholders connected to your industry is important but we can’t forget about other external agencies such as first responders who we rely on for assistance. The media is important and it is important for your organization and department to develop relationships with local media outlets to ensure smooth and accurate information exchange during an emergency.

7  Recovery

Once an emergency has ended, it is important to understand what your roles and responsibilities are to return the organization to the new norm. Reviewing what needs to be replaced or stockpiled again, removal of signage, closing communications, etc. are just some of the areas that need to be considered. In the recovery stage it is also important to debrief all staff. This is an opportunity for your staff to let you know how they felt the emergency response went. If necessary, you need to allow your officers access to the Employee Assistant program (EAP) if they require it.

It is also very important for organizations to continue training, exercising, networking/information sharing, and consider using common processes/procedures to make emergency responses run more smoothly.

Ken Close is Manager of Security at Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga, Ont.