US government urged to work from home in pandemic

[Guest guest]

US government urged to work from home in pandemic By Maggie Fox,

Health and Science Correspondent Thu May 11, 3:32 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If a flu pandemic forced 40 percent of workers

to stay home, telecommuting could help keep governments and

businesses running -- but hardly any are set up to do this, experts

told the U.S. Congress on Thursday.

A report from the Government Accountability Office found that

only nine of 23 federal agencies had plans in place for essential

staff to work from home during a pandemic.

" None of the 23 agencies demonstrated that it could ensure adequate

technological capacity to allow personnel to telework during an

emergency, " GAO Comptroller General told a hearing of

the House Government Reform Committee.

One reason for the lack of preparation was that FEMA (the Federal

Emergency Management Agency) had not provided specific guidance on

what was needed to allow staff to work from home, the GAO report said.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Danny (news, bio, voting record) said

he introduced legislation that would require the federal government

to conduct and evaluate a 10-day telework project.

" Federal agencies must be able to continue operations during an

emergency, " he said.

The H5N1 avian flu virus has spread rapidly in recent months, leaving

Asia and moving into birds across Europe and into Africa. It does not

yet easily infect people, but it has made 205 seriously ill and

killed 115 of them.

A few mutations could turn the virus into a pandemic strain that

would pass easily from person to person and spread around the world

in weeks or months.

Experts agree that at the peak of the pandemic, 40 percent of workers

could be unable to leave home, because they were ill, caring for a

sick person, caring for children because schools would be closed, or

simply afraid.

Many jobs can be done via computer, telephone or teleconference and

U.S. agencies have been asked to be ready for this.

YOU CAN'T JUST DIAL UP

But it requires planning, said Dr. Runge, acting

undersecretary for science and technology at the Department of

Homeland Security.

" It is one thing to say we are all going to use the Internet for

work, " Runge told the hearing. There are fears that Internet access

could be overwhelmed if millions of workers all try to use it at the

same time.

" It turns out to be quite a more complex problem than saying, 'guys,

go home and log on, " ' Runge said.

Springer, Director of the Office of Personnel Management, said

one agency needed to be put in charge of coordination, and rehearsing

was essential.

" Under an emergency, particularly a pandemic, you might have a lot

more people teleworking than normal. It is important to make sure you

have the technological capacity to do this, you have the software

licenses to do this. You don't know what you don't know, " Springer

told the hearing.

Kurtz, a former National Security Council member now executive

director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, said no one had

evaluated the Internet's total capacity.

" We simply don't know about what the impact would be if, for example,

even half the 60,000-plus employees of the Department of Health

and Human Services -- who help coordinate the entire national health

care system -- were to attempt to work off-site, " Kurtz said.

http://news./s/nm/20060511/wr_nm/birdflu_telework_dc_5