COVID-19 and the Sequence of Reliability
A Message to SGCS Clients and Colleagues — 13 March 2020
The COVID-19 outbreak has reached pandemic level, and the worldwide spread of this new disease has caused entire countries to impose lockdowns, cruise ships to quarantine passengers and crew, and major gatherings to be postponed or canceled. While businesses across the globe are familiar with accident emergency response protocols, managing the COVID-19 crisis falls outside the direct experience of the general public and many organizations. However, many of SGCS’s high-consequence industry clients are directly involved in providing public services and their reliability can limit the effects of the pandemic. The Sequence of Reliability can help.
First, see and understand the risk. Which means knowing where the virus is present and how it propagates. Then, manage it by following the sequence of systems performance, human performance and organization performance.
Recognize that the virus isn’t visible and understand how it transfers from person to person. This virus is different than the common cold, influenza or Ebola, and understanding how it differs is critical. Until a vaccine is developed, social distancing will be the most effective system to limit the spread of COVID-19 among the general public. But for many of our clients in the public service sectors, this will not be possible. Therefore, personal protective equipment and hand hygiene protocols remain essential system components, and monitoring their effectiveness and resilience is critical.
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This message is for informational purposes only. For clinical guidance and governmental policies please refer to the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization websites for up-to-date information and guidance.