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Information for EPA Employees
There are things you can be doing now, both personally and professionally, to get educated and prepared for a possible pandemic. These include developing and practicing your personal emergency plan and staying informed about how a pandemic could affect the way you perform your job at EPA.
As in other emergencies, pandemic influenza could affect everyday life. Here are some things that may impact our ability to maintain our normal schedules:
- Common services may be disrupted (transportation, health care, banks, stores, etc.) due to sick employees
- Health care services may be strained
- Schools may be closed for an extended period of time
- Large public gatherings and events (church services, performances, sporting events, etc.) may be curtailed or cancelled
Find out more about individual and family preparedness from PandemicFlu.gov.
If a serious pandemic strikes, EPA will adjust operations to protect employees' health and limit the spread of influenza while maintaining essential functions. EPA management will use this Web site, as well as many other means such as mass mailers and voice mail, to provide up-to-date information regarding work schedules and other workplace information.
Employees may conduct work while "social distancing." Social distancing means reducing the frequency, proximity, and duration of contact among people to reduce the chances of spreading pandemic influenza from person to person. Social distancing could include a variety of workplace strategies such as teleworking, avoiding face-to-face meetings, working in shifts, canceling unnecessary travel, or issuing evacuation orders to enable employees to work safely from home.
If much of EPA's work force is either ill or caring for sick family members, day-to-day activities will be seriously curtailed. EPA would be performing only those essential functions involving:
- Management and communication with Agency employees, contractors, assistance recipients, and other stakeholders;
- Implementation of EPA's Continuity of Operations Plans;
- Support for the federal response to a pandemic outbreak;
- Response to hazardous material releases that endanger human health and the environment; and
- Performance of the Agency's national security functions.