Better Decisions Save Lives.

Some organizations and companies already have plans in place for response continuity, some do not. In total, up to 50% of the workforce may require time off at some stage over the pandemic, according to the UK Department of Health's contingency plans. "Absenteeism should follow the pandemic profile with an expectation that it will build to a peak lasting for two to three weeks when between 15% and 20% of staff may be absent at the same time". Risks are greater in environments where human interaction and personal contact is a common occurrence.

Organizations have been advised to prepare by appointing a pandemic co-ordinator and deputy who will understand the critical requirements and plan accordingly. To help teams communicate and reduce the impact on personnel levels, a new service has launched called Decisions For Heroes. The service will monitor the status of a group of people and alert them if they fail to have the correct skill levels available on-demand.

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Each team member may securely add their qualifications and experience to the online tool. Once a team member becomes ill, they may mark themselves as unavailable by signing-in from a home internet connection or by sending a text message to a special number.

Team leaders may set comfort levels such as always requiring 2 doctors, 4 paramedics, 4 drivers, 2 security, and 1 dispatcher at all times. The software keeps a realtime monitor on the available skills pool and alerts the team when they are short people in a required qualification or skill, up to two weeks in advance.

Individual teams and national bodies need to consider the implications of an influenza pandemic on their resource levels and make continuity plans. Decisions For Heroes is billed per month, has no long-term contracts, and teams can get started instantly by opening a self-service account online.