To: Deans, Directors and Department Chairs
From: Mary Beth Koza, Director, Environment, Health and Safety
Gena Carter, Senior Director, Office of Human Resources
Steve Kenny, Director of Risk Management Services
As the University continues to monitor and plan for a possible increase in H1N1 flu cases this fall and winter, we are writing to ask that your department update its existing Pandemic Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP). If your department still does not have a plan, you need to develop it now. While the recent outbreak of H1N1 did not pose a direct threat to our campus community, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that the upcoming influenza season could prove challenging and is encouraging all businesses and organizations to update plans to prevent the possible further spread of the virus.
The annual seasonal flu event usually begins in October; therefore, the University is making every effort to be prepared for that season and for the possible return of the H1N1 virus in a form that could prove more threatening to our community. We ask that you update your plan, or develop a new one, and send a copy of your plan to Steve Kenny with the Office of Risk Management Services at Campus Box 1100 or
steve.kenny@unc.edu. Your plan should be completed by August 24th.
In updating units’ plans, we ask that you continue to use the same Pandemic Influenza Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) template that you previously used. If you are developing a plan for the first time, that template is located at https://campussafety.unc.edu/risk-management/continuity-of-operations-planning/.
The Office of Risk Management Services has also created a “Guide to Business Continuity and Recovery Planning on Campus” to aid you in developing or updating your plan. The guide is extensive and applies to multiple planning scenarios. It is intended to be an aid and to provide guidance to your continuity of operations planning but is not a replacement for the Pandemic Influenza COOP template noted above. A hard copy of the guide will be mailed to the business manager of each campus department while an online version is located at bus_con_guide.pdf. We hope you find this guide to be a simple and effective resource to help better prepare you for events that may interrupt your unit’s operations. Additional hard copies of this guide can be requested by contacting Steve Kenny.
As you may know, UNC-CH began planning for a pandemic event more than three years ago. More than 225 schools, department, centers, institutes, and units developed COOPS. UNC-CH became a national leader in pandemic planning, and our policy and planning documents have been used as templates by many other universities all across the country. Now, with the recent outbreak of H1N1, we have tested and updated some of that planning. The updating of your COOP is a part of this renewed
effort.
For additional information and updates to assist with your departmental pandemic COOP, see the Environment, Health & Safety website at https://ehs.unc.edu/ or the Treasury and Risk Management Services Website at:
https://finance.unc.edu/departments/treasury/. For more information about the University’s response to H1N1, see https://alertcarolina.unc.edu/.
*This memo is also being sent to University Business Managers.*