Hollands: I was thinking of last year’s pandemic simulation that was held between the public and the private sector and those simulations are very powerful and probably one of the best experiences of your time that an organization can go through. Both of those were not-for-profit, sponsored in some cases by organizations, very affordable.
 
Each company’s representative or team, would be engaged in their specific sector, as far as that very realistic simulation was concerned. And it made them really think about who are their stakeholders, who are their suppliers, who else relies on them, how do their plans fit in with the public sector side of things, what should they be doing better? And some organizations even found that developing their plan – especially if they are a critical service going out there into the public domain – if they could enhance their preparedness and their skills then, that was seen as a brand enhancer as well.
 
And because of all the questionnaires and supplier responses they are asked of – Are you as my supplier prepared to support me in what I feel are my critical operations? What would you do? What is your role? And how can I rely on that?
 
That brings people together into those conversations quite well, especially from the business point of view where you’re really looking at critical operations.
 
But from the simulation, I still like to plug that again, I know it was delayed this year … but I believe it will go forward. They are planning a cross-Canada simulation to feed that. And that was going to create a national conversation around who would do what in this kind of very public-private crisis.
 
Morton: Going back to Jason’s comment about some province’s mandatory requirements to have an emergency management plan, I have also heard that while in some provinces that is required, the quality or the completeness of plans can vary widely even in provinces where it is mandatory. So I think there is still an issue there in terms of bringing the level of quality up.
 
To John and to Ralph’s point about communication, certainly I would wholeheartedly agree. In traveling across the country we know that there sometimes is a lack of communication between federal governments and provincial governments.
 
About two weeks ago there was an article in The Globe and Mail, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities was still voicing concern that eventhough issues of disasters or pandemic or whatever will hit at a municipal level, they still don’t feel that their voices are being heard in terms of that planning.
 
Maybe it's this issue of where you put bodies is an example of the lack of communication. And certainly across the country we see provinces taking their own initiatives because there isn’t that direction in terms of a national perspective. And we even see some municipalities, in Ottawa for example, there’s now an emergency management group for the hospitals that are trying to come to grips with what they should be doing.
 
So all of these separate initiatives, while commendable and important, really point to the overall lack of integration and communication.
 
Harkness: John made a good point as well with regards to understanding where our suppliers are going to fit into the process. Just anecdotally, when IAPA was going through our initial response in May and what we were going to be needing for resources for our staff, it was really scary how quickly supplies dry up and getting access to whether it’s the respirators or it’s cleaning lotions or gloves or whatever it’s going to be. It was incredible how quickly we had difficulty getting the basic stuff, and even stuff that we thought was on its way never made it. And I’m thinking that’s another piece that can be quite challenging for us. It’s this expectation that not only do we have to manage this from our own perspective, but it’s almost an assumption that yes, our suppliers will still be able to support us, just like everything else. And they are going to be in the same type of glitch and concerns too. Food for thought.
 
Parish: On the supplier side, the transportation industry is going to be another one because everybody depends on just-in-time freight and shipping and stuff like that. People don’t warehouse things anymore so all the supplier, if they are able to make it, then has to travel from point A to point B, which could be across border. So there’s a whole group in there that’s affected, too. So when we look at things that are needed right away it starts out with the supplier, but then we have to get it.

The trucking industry people being exposed to a lot of people would be a whole other area that if they start to lose drivers, which there is already a shortage on a regular basis, then now the trucks are going to sit and the other thing that will happen is that the trucks that were loaded are going to sit too, and they could be who knows where. So it goes from point A to point B and there’s a lot of things in between there that can be affected, that can raise some major concerns for us as to how we actually do get them.
 
I know with the N95 masks there’s a real shortage on trying to get them right now because they were heading to the States and being made in the U.S. They were protecting their interest by maybe withholding stuff like that and not allowing it to be shipped outside of the US. So there’s a lot of little loop holes I guess we’ll call it, that are in there that can affect us that we sometimes have a hard time even being able to control, even with emergency planning and so on.
 
Saunders: As a practical recommendation for organizations when looking at identifying alternate or tertiary suppliers, having a supplier at 123 Main Street and the alternate supplier being at 125 Main Street, probably is not the best idea because if one is impacted, probably the one next door to it is, as well.
 
So if your supplier is in Indonesia, you might want to look at either another country as a secondary or as a redundant supplier so this way you are looking at geographical solutions as well. During a pandemic, who knows how it’s going to work out? But it does increase your odds of continuing a supply chain if you do have those alternate suppliers.
 
And further to that recommendation is to test those alternates. Every once in a while place an order with them. It continues the relationship, but it also builds your trust that you will still be able to count on that as a back up supplier for whatever your primary materials are.
 
Somewhat of a separate issue and a challenge for all of us as emergency management professionals, as well as the occupational health and safety or emergency management personnel, is how to deal with misinformation. So media is a great way for keeping topics on the front page and keeping corporate buy-in there. But unfortunately, we’ve all seen instances where either items have been hyped, misinterpreted, and/or overly, in some cases, minimized.
 
For example, halfway through SARS they realized that N95 masks probably weren’t even required or necessary. There is no scientific proof that N95 masks provided any extra benefit unless it was the person who is sick that is actually the one wearing it. But yet everybody and their brother wanted an N95 mask during SARS. No one even knew what an N95 was before SARS unless you’re in the industry.
 
It’s the same thing now, we’ve got family members going out and buying N95 masks. Again they don’t work well if you don’t know how to fit them properly, so you’re actually causing potentially more of a risk because people are using equipment without having the proper knowledge about how to properly use it.
 
So looking at how do we vet information, researching information and just not believing every story that comes across our desks and doing the research before going out and investing in it. I don’t want the company to stockpile antivirals. We’ve got some companies looking at that as an example. Under the Emergency Powers Act, the province could confiscate those supplies anyway. So you may be doing the government a favour by stockpiling on behalf of your company. I’m not saying that the province or the feds would do that, but they do have the powers to confiscate it if it is in the greater good of the country.
 
So taking a practical aspect with what is it you need to do to protect your people, your business and your community. And keeping it balanced, perhaps is the overall message there about how we approach these things, and not allowing ourselves to be caught up in the flurry of activity or in the passion of the moment.

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Are you ready for an emergency?
Social networking as part of emergency planning
Better coordination between public-private organizations