Pandemics, Data Centers and Disaster Readiness

IT Editorial

Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:19

Written by Bob DeCoufle

Several years ago the threat of Avian Flu prompted data center and IT managers to plan and prepare in the event of an outbreak. Fortunately the Avian Flu outbreak did not spread to pandemic proportions, but the concern with any rapidly spreading disease is that it may one day reach your staff and develop into a sudden decrease in personnel.

To be clear, a pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that can spread through a region, country or the world. In the case of the recent swine flu strain it is clear that it is a disease that can rapidly spread and the World Health Organization has moved its alert level for swine flu closer to pandemic status as the illness has spread to more countries in Europe and additional cases have been confirmed in the United States.

At the moment there does not appear to be the need for alarm, however precautions and readiness is necessary for all data center and IT departments. First, be sure to recognize if any person on your staff has been or have been exposed to anyone who has been in Mexico. If so you may request that they remain at home or carefully monitor their physical condition for the first signs of symptoms. To avoid the spread of any infectious disease requires that the infected person be isolated or told to stay home so as to not spread the disease to other staff members. A single cough of an infected person can transmit the sickness to an entire room full of people.

Swine Flu symptoms include high fever, body aches, headaches, coughing, sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue and chills.

In the case of companies that have a data center or IT team within Mexico we recommend that your team in Mexico takes additional measures such as making it mandatory for employees to wear hospital masks and to wash their hands frequently.

Beyond these measures it is necessary to be ready in the event that staff members are unable to come to work, therefore a review of your back up plans is essential during these times. The worst case scenario may require your facility to become managed remotely if possible or relocated to a disaster recovery site outside the epidemic region.

Beyond a direct impact to an IT or data center staff swine flu is impacting stock markets which are already in dire straits. Trading in everything from livestock futures to the Mexican peso to airline stocks have been impacted.

We recommend that you and your IT team keep a close eye on the developments of the epidemic. If your organization does not have a specific pandemic plan then you will likely turn to your corporate plan in the event that a large population of your team is absent. Extra awareness should be considered for positions that are critical to your IT operation and difficult to back up in the event the primary and back up person becomes ill. 

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