Preparing for a Pandemic

Despite intensive media coverage, many organizations are shying away from preparing for a potential avian flu pandemic. A Mercer Human Resource Consulting survey of companies this spring found that only 7 percent of U.S. respondents had a budget for flu preparedness, and just 38 percent have formed crisis-management teams. But other organizations are preparing for a potential disaster that, according to a White House report, could result in 1.9 million deaths and keep 40 percent of the work