TRAVEL INDUSTRY PANDEMIC INFLUENZA PLANNING CHECKLIST
Businesses in the travel industry—including travel agencies and air, rail, bus, and cruise lines—will play a key role
in protecting the health and safety of their personnel and travelers in the event of a pandemic. Planning and
coordinating with public health and emergency management agencies at the local, state, national, and international
levels are critical.
Businesses in the travel industry—including travel agencies and air, rail, bus, and cruise lines—will play a key role
in protecting the health and safety of their personnel and travelers in the event of a pandemic. Planning and
coordinating with public health and emergency management agencies at the local, state, national, and international
levels are critical.
To help with this, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
have developed the following checklist. It identifies important steps that businesses in the travel industry can take now to prepare for an
influenza pandemic. This checklist provides a general framework for developing a pandemic influenza plan. Individual businesses will
need to adapt this checklist to meet their unique needs and circumstances. Many of these activities will also help travel-related businesses
prepare for other kinds of emergencies. The key planning activities in this checklist are meant to complement and enhance existing all-
hazards emergency/business contingency plans. For further information on general business emergency planning and continuity of
operations, see
www.ready.gov/business/
To help with this, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
have developed the following checklist. It identifies important steps that businesses in the travel industry can take now to prepare for an
influenza pandemic. This checklist provides a general framework for developing a pandemic influenza plan. Individual businesses will
need to adapt this checklist to meet their unique needs and circumstances. Many of these activities will also help travel-related businesses
prepare for other kinds of emergencies. The key planning activities in this checklist are meant to complement and enhance existing all-
hazards emergency/business contingency plans. For further information on general business emergency planning and continuity of
operations, see
www.ready.gov/business/. Further information on pandemic influenza planning can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov.
Plan for the impact of an influenza pandemic on your business.
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Identify employees and critical resources (e.g. suppliers, sub-contractors, products,
and logistics) necessary to continue business and financial operations for each
location and functional area in the event of a pandemic. Identify back-ups for
essential employee roles, contracted services, and supply sources.
Determine the potential impact of a pandemic on continuity of operations and
company finances. (See
www.pandemicflu.gov/impacts/index.html.)
Within the scope of your business continuity-of-operations plan:
Identify a pandemic coordinator or team;
Develop a pandemic preparedness plan; and
Ask your employees and traveler representatives for their input.
Develop a plan to continue operations that anticipates, responds to, and supports
voluntary or mandatory travel restrictions or cancellations, border restrictions, event
restrictions, and quarantines.
Identify alternative methods to continue your business, if feasible, in the event of
major travel disruptions. Consider creative ways for travelers to conduct business
and pursue recreation, given potential limitations.
Assign specific persons to monitor CDC travel health notices, U.S. State Department
travel warnings, and advice for travelers from the World Health Organization about
measures that may limit travel at the international, national, state, and local levels.
Go to www.pandemicflu.gov/travel/ to obtain information about locations where
you operate.
Establish and test communications systems between corporate decision makers and
those individuals in your business that are monitoring the pandemic situation.
Determine possible insurance coverage limitations or cancellations which may take
place in agency, business, or traveler plans during an influenza pandemic. Provide
summary information about insurance coverage changes to customers and staff.
Develop and maintain up-to-date communications contacts with key international,
national, state, and/or local public health and emergency management
agencies/organizations. (See www.pandemicflu.gov.)
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Develop communications with public health authorities in your locations in order to
learn about events that would signal a pandemic influenza emergency, and
circumstances in which you would activate your company’s preparedness plan and
alter business operations (e.g. limit or shut down operations in affected locations).
Identify an internal chain of communications, including back-up provisions of
systems, channels, and people to ensure capacity to send and receive information in
the event of an emergency. Identify processes for tracking and communicating travel
operations and employee status.
Develop contingency plans for employee absences that may occur due to personal or
family member illness, community mitigation measures, quarantines, school or
business closures, and possible public transportation shutdowns.
Develop a telecommuting system (if feasible) for your key employees. Determine
equipment, computer specifications, files, programs, and internet access needed to
enable work at home.
Train your workforce, including contractors and retirees, to perform critical
functions in case employees who normally perform those functions are absent. Share
essential business knowledge with key employees.
Develop “what if” scenarios and conduct practice drills to test your plan. Participate
in drills conducted by local, state, or national governments to test linkages between
the company and relevant authorities. Revise the plan based on lessons learned.
Plan for the impact of an influenza pandemic on your employers and travelers.
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Become familiar with social distancing methods that may be used during a pandemic to modify the
frequency and type of person-to-person contact in your workplace (e.g., reducing hand-shaking,
limiting face-to-face meetings and shared workstations, promoting teleworking, offering
liberal/unscheduled leave policies, staggered shifts).
Encourage good hygiene at the workplace. Provide employees and staff with
information about the importance of hand hygiene (information can be found at
www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/) as well as convenient access to soap and water and/or
alcohol-based hand gel (containing at least 60% alcohol) in your facility. Educate
employees about covering their cough to prevent the spread of germs. (See
www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/covercough.htm.)
Coordinate planning efforts with public health authorities to carry out infection
control measures, including case identification, screening and reporting information
about ill travelers or employees, isolation of persons who are ill, quarantine,
movement restriction, and provision of basic health care in the
countries/jurisdictions where you operate. (See
www.pandemicflu.gov/travel/.)
Train the appropriate employees to carry out these activities.
Encourage seasonal influenza vaccination for employees every year as
recommended by CDC. (See
www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm.) Encourage all
travel employees to be up-to-date on all adult vaccinations recommended by the
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. (See
www.cdc.gov/nip/recs/adult-
schedule.htm.)
Evaluate employee access to and the availability of health-care services in all sites of
operation in the face of a surge in demand during a pandemic.
Collaborate with employees to identify sources of psychosocial support during a
pandemic, including corporate, community, and faith-based resources. (See
www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/sup11.html.)
Identify employees and travelers with special needs and address these needs in your
preparedness planning.
Establish policies and procedures to be implemented during an influenza pandemic.
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Establish and clearly communicate policies on sick leave, family leave, and
employee compensation to workforce.
Establish compensation and sick-leave policies that encourage ill workers
to stay home until their symptoms resolve (i.e., nonpunitive, liberal leave).
During a pandemic, employees with influenza-like symptoms should not
enter the worksite to keep from infecting other workers.
Establish policies for alternate or flexible worksites (e.g., videoconferencing
and telecommuting) and work hours. Establish policies to allow designated
employees to work from home.
Establish policies for promoting general infection control measures (e.g. hand
hygiene, cough/sneeze etiquette). (See
www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/stopgerms.htm.)
Follow CDC guidance for managing employees who become ill or who believe
they have been exposed to pandemic influenza (e.g., mandatory sick leave,
limiting contact with others, appropriate use of masks, provision of health-care
services as appropriate). (See
www.cdc.gov/travel/other/avian_flu_ig_airlines_021804.htm.)
Follow CDC guidance concerning travelers with symptoms of possible
influenza (e.g., separation of the ill traveler from others, appropriate use of
masks and gloves etc.). (See
www.cdc.gov/travel/other/avian_flu_ig_airlines_021804.htm.)
Establish company policies for modifying travel to affected domestic and
international locations, such as evacuation from affected areas and guidance for
those returning from affected areas. (See
www.cdc.gov/travel/outbreaks.htm
and
www.pandemicflu.gov/travel/.)
Follow CDC guidance on cleaning and disinfection procedures, using typical
cleaning items such as soap and detergents, after conveyance with a traveler or
employee who may have influenza. (See
www.cdc.gov/travel/other/avian_flu_airlines_cleaning_update_120505.html.)
Allocate resources to protect your employees and travelers during an influenza pandemic.
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Procure adequate infection control supplies such as hand-hygiene products,
appropriate personal protective equipment, tissues, and waste receptacles.
Ensure convenient access for all employees.
Maintain a contact list of current suppliers and develop an alternate list of
providers for critical supplies and essential resources and services.
Increase communications and information technology capacity to enable
employee telecommuting and remote customer access. Establish policies and
procedures to protect the security of any documents or information taken from
the workplace in order to telecommute from a remote location.
Identify medical advisory resources for helping your company interpret and
accurately communicate pandemic influenza information.
Educate and communicate with your employees and travelers.
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Develop a communications plan for reaching employees, travelers, and other
key contacts. Ensure that mobile and emergency contact information is regularly
updated. Develop mechanisms for notifying employees and travelers of changes
to travel or workplace operations during a pandemic, and inform them of these
mechanisms. Identify a lead spokesperson for your company, and link to
important communication channels. (See
www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/sup10.html.)
Ensure that your communications plan includes methods for communicating
pandemic status using telephone information lines or dedicated Web sites, and
post status information quickly and consistently.
Train coordinators, supervisors, and other employees who have a role in
implementing the pandemic plan.
Encourage employees and travelers to create an emergency preparedness plan
for themselves and their families. (See “Individual Planning” at
www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/tab3.html.)
Develop and distribute information that provides clear, accurate messages about
necessary travel restrictions or changes, based on information obtained from
international, national, state, and local authorities. (See
www.pandemicflu.gov/travel/
.)
Distribute basic pandemic influenza information about signs, symptoms, and
modes of transmission. (See
www.pandemicflu.gov/general/index.html.)
Obtain and distribute information about personal and family protection and
response strategies (e.g. hand washing, use of hand gels, cough/sneeze etiquette,
emergency contingency plans, travel policies, home care options for employees
and family members who become ill). (See
www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/tab3.html.)
Build a mechanism for promptly addressing employee and traveler fears,
anxieties, rumors, and misinformation into your communications plan.
Advise employees and travelers of the business’ legal responsibilities, and its
authority to implement infection control measures and other actions, such as:
Required reporting of travelers or employees who become ill;
Isolation of persons who become ill;
Restrictions to travel or other movement; and
Transferrance of ill persons to health-care providers as necessary.
Coordinate with external organizations and help your community.
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Review international, national, state, and local public health and emergency
management agencies’ pandemic plans in areas where you operate, if possible.
Be sure that your pandemic plan is coordinated with the pandemic plans
developed for your location. (See “State and Local Governments” at
www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/tab2.html.)
Volunteer to work with international, national, state, and local public health
agencies, emergency responders, and law enforcement to help with their
planning processes, share your pandemic plans, and increase your understanding
of their responsibilities, resources, and capabilities.
Communicate with local and/or state public health agencies and/or emergency
responders about the assets and/or services your business could contribute to the
community where you operate in the event of a pandemic.
Collaborate with others in the travel industry to share best practices and lessons
learned to improve community response efforts.
