News and Events

Staffing contingency planning

On Tuesday this week there were 726 schools shut in the USA, leaving just under half a million students at home, in an attempt to stop the swift spread of what now appears to be a mild, but very fast transmitted disease. The headlines talk about the impact on schools, but there's another less well documented impact of such closures. What happens to all the parents of these children who may need to take time off work to look after them? What happens to the businesses whose staff need to take time off so unexpectedly? It's a thought worth considering in any contingency planning. Organisations may need to allow for a certain proportion of the workforce to be off ill and then a further proportion to be off work having to look after ill relatives.

Global emergency response from UNWTO

The world has learnt a lot of lessons in the past few years. A good news update today from the UNWTO which is establishing a cross-industry information and messaging system - TERN, the Tourism Emergency Response Network.

Media reaction to swine flu

Less than a week ago few people had heard of swine flu. As events unfold I've been watching the media reaction to developments with great interest. First the debate about whether the impact of Twitter was dangerous in spreading misinformation. Then detailed analysis on how much this subject is being discussed on facebook. Now the debate about whether the media itself is fuelling fears.

Pandemic Crisis Preparations

Thinking the unthinkable is essential if you're considering crisis communications, but today's news about the spread of swine influenza has to make us think the unthinkable very fast. 

Responding to social media

In the past few months I've seen two travel companies experience the impact of critical discussions about their business online. In both instances the discussion started in the UK and was very quickly being commented on across the world.

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