http://www.gematech.com/blog Changing the way we work Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:41:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 http://www.gematech.com/blog/2009/06/11/world-health-organisation-on-brink-of-declaring-global-pandemic/ http://www.gematech.com/blog/2009/06/11/world-health-organisation-on-brink-of-declaring-global-pandemic/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:20:56 +0000 Karen Jones http://www.gematech.com/blog/?p=14 The H1N1 swine flu virus has spread to 74 countries, with a sharp increase in reported cases in Australia. The UN have called an emergency meeting to discuss the imapct of an imminent declaration by the World Health Organisation to raise the level from 5 to 6, which would see the world in its first global pandemic since 1968. A pandemic which killed around one million people. The disease is classed as a pandemic when it has spread from human to human when widespread within two regions of the world. If a pandemic is declared, governments could quite quickly call for travel bans and school closures, a move which could in theory start bringing organisations to a standstill. It seems that time is running out for those who have not made sufficient business continuity plans to cope with mass illness or to facilitate flexible working options which enable healthy employees to continue working from home or other isolated location. The reliance upon our country’s telephone system for communication will be massive. For those people at the leading edge of technology I wonder whether IP telephony will stand the test of huge increases in residential broadband use? Especially when the children are at home because the schools are closed..

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