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Pandemic risk management; protecting people while ensuring business continuity
Author(s) -
Sneddon James
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
process safety progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.378
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1547-5913
pISSN - 1066-8527
DOI - 10.1002/prs.12302
Subject(s) - business , pandemic , work (physics) , globe , workforce , risk management , containment (computer programming) , risk analysis (engineering) , business continuity , service (business) , operations management , covid-19 , computer security , marketing , engineering , finance , computer science , economic growth , medicine , mechanical engineering , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , economics , ophthalmology , programming language
The COVID‐19 pandemic swept across the globe in the latter half of 2019, throughout 2020 and into 2021. In response, many organizations implemented work from home policies, while others stopped operations entirely in an effort to limit the spread throughout their workforce and supporting communities. This containment strategy was not universally viable; long‐term shutdowns impacted the economic viability of companies, and some industries were designated as an “essential service” and thus continued operations. These employers faced the proposition of balancing the needs of the business and the community with a continued responsibility to provide a safe workplace for employees. This paper demonstrates how the application of common risk management methodologies, such as bowtie analysis combined with an appropriate assurance and verification process (e.g., the lines of defense model), can help the risks associated with a resumption or continuation of in‐person operations in a pandemic to be better understood and ensure the measures in place to manage said risk are appropriate and effective.