Preparing your business for a major health event

• Check current COVID-19 information.

• Read about pandemic risk management for business.
• Find flu prevention resources to help prevent influenza spreading.
• Read more about human influenza and influenza pandemics.

• To prevent or reduce the risk of mosquito-borne diseases in your premises or property:
  • regularly check for potential breeding sites (PDF, 1.5MB) and empty outside containers capable of storing water
  • provide insect repellent and long-sleeved clothing for staff and customers
  • advise staff and customers about how to prevent mosquito bites.

• Learn about Legionnaires' disease – caused by the Legionella bacteria and can be found in equipment with water (e.g. air conditioning, pools and spas, misting systems).
• Read the Legionella guidelines and resources from Queensland Health to help you minimise the risk.

• Read the guidelines and resources for disease prevention in animal contact areas from Queensland Health.
• Read how to prevent illness in animal contact areas.

• If you handle or sell food, you must comply with food and beverage industry regulations.
• Read Queensland Health's:
  • know your food business booklet (PDF, 1MB) to assess your food safety practices and requirements
  • food safety resources for information about safe food storage, preparation and regulations.
• Visit Safe Food Queensland for mandatory food safety accreditation, advice and notification requirements.

Read more about preparing for workplace emergencies.

• Advise workers, guests and customers on how to prepare for a heatwave and signs of heatstroke.
• Visit WorkSafe Queensland for more information on how to protect workers from heat stress and use the heat stress calculator to predict the risk of heat-induced illness and find out how to prevent it.

Contagious diseases

If a staff member, customer, client, volunteer or visitor contracts a contagious disease and has potentially exposed others at your workplace, notify your local public health unit or phone 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84).

Contaminated food products

If you suspect a food product has been intentionally contaminated, report it to 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84).

Food poisoning

If a food poisoning incident occurs:

• advise the customer (or other person) to see a doctor
• record the customers contact and complaint details, and report using the customer complaint log (scroll down to 'Records' to find the form)
• remove any suspect food from sale (or consumption), label it 'suspected unsafe food' and refrigerate it for testing
• report it to your local public health unit or phone 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84)
• phone the Poisons Information Centre for advice on 13 11 26 – available 24 hours, 7 days a week
• learn more about food safety complaints from Queensland Health
• use the event log template to record decisions and actions.

Serious injury or illness, death or a dangerous event (including serious or dangerous electrical events)

• Always phone Triple Zero (000) for all life-threatening emergencies.
• You must notify Workplace Health and Safety.

• Monitor and follow Queensland Health alerts.
• Activate your incident response plan or specific health management plan.
• Keep your workplace safe for staff, customers, clients, volunteers and visitors.
• Know your work health and safety obligations as a business.

• Activate your specific health management plan as part of your business continuity plan.
• Consider alternative ways to run your business by working remotely from home, moving online, finding a new market or customers, or selling different products or services.

• Keep your staff up-to-date on changes to your workplace and business operations.
• Check what support services are available to staff.
• If you have to temporarily close your business or reduce operations, consider how you will manage your staff during this time. Make sure you're aware of your legal obligations as an employer, especially if you plan to:
  • stand down staff
  • ask staff to take paid or unpaid leave
  • assign staff to different roles or locations
  • end employment.
• Learn more about employment entitlements during natural disasters and emergencies from the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Review your finances

• Contact your accountant to:
  • identify how long you can operate with reduced or no revenue
  • identify how long you can continue to pay staff and creditors before your business would be trading insolvently
  • identify if or when you would need to lay off staff
  • develop a plan to pay creditors on payment plans where possible.
• Taking stock of your business is CPA Australia's kit to help you assess your financial position.
• Learn more about managing cash flow and debtors.

Get financial help

• Check if you can apply for business grants or use the Queensland Government Grants Finder.
• Find out about business assistance, grants and support from the Australian Government.
• Get free financial counselling support from small business financial counsellors and rural financial counsellors.
• Phone the Employer Assistance Helpline on 1300 731 988 – advice and support if your business has been forced to close or reduce operations from the Business Chamber Queensland.
• Learn about extending state tax and royalty payments from Queensland Treasury.

Contact your bank

• Ask your bank about financial hardship options, for example:
  • changing loan terms
  • temporarily pausing or reducing repayments
  • deferring repayments and interest payments (all missed payments and interest will need to be repaid)
  • waiving fees and charges
  • consolidating your debt
  • finance to help cover cash flow shortages
  • deferring upcoming credit card payments
  • increasing emergency credit card limits
  • waiving early termination fees to access term deposits.
• Provide loan details (account name and number, payment amounts) and an overview of your financial situation.
• Request a hardship variation by using the sample letter generator from the Financial Rights Legal Centre to send to your bank.
• Your bank must advise you within 21 days about your hardship request. If you can't negotiate a variation, you can:
  • contact the bank's internal dispute resolution team
  • visit the Australian Financial Complaints Authority or phone 1800 931 678 to make a complaint, and get free advice and independent dispute resolution.

Contact utility providers

• Contact your utility providers' hardship team about electricity, gas, phone or water bill payment options.

• Pandemic claims – most insurance policies do not cover businesses for a pandemic, but find out if you can make a claim under your business interruption or income protection insurance.
• Insurers must inform you of their decision within 10 business days of receiving your claim.
• Insurers must fast track your claim if you can demonstrate 'financial need' (read Item 64 of the General Insurance Code of Practice) – if the insurer accepts your claim, an advance payment must be made within 5 days.
• Contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority on 1800 931 678 if you can't reach an agreement with your insurer.
• Phone Legal Aid Queensland on 1300 651 188 if you need information and advice on how to get your insurance claim paid.

• Look after yourself, your staff and your family's wellbeing and mental health. Consider staff morale and how to boost it.
• Share health alerts and information with staff (e.g. vaccination information).
• Stay connected to your local community, industry and neighbouring businesses.

• Consider your business's viability long term, including costs and benefits of continuing to operate.
• Develop relationships with more than one supplier to maintain supplies and deliveries, etc.

• Work with your accountant, lawyer or adviser on a financial recovery plan, including credit and repayment plans.
• Access small business support services to get back on track, including the Mentoring for Growth program.
• Watch financial resilience webinars for small businesses from TAFE Queensland:
  • managing cash flow
  • business planning/strategies
  • panel mentoring sessions
  • repositioning your business.

• Visit Scamwatch for updates on the latest scams and subscribe to email alerts.
• Learn how to protect your online business activity.

A health event requires a coordinated response from governments, businesses and other organisations. Consider who you need to communicate with during and after a health event.

Key stakeholders may include:

• staff
• regulatory body or agency
• customers, clients, or guests
• suppliers and distributors
• bank and insurer
• industry body.

Aim to keep stakeholders informed about:

• what is happening
• how your business is responding
• where they can find out more
• what they need to do and when.

To communicate to stakeholders:

• develop a recovery marketing and promotion plan
• use social media channels and your website to get the message out widely
• keep customers, suppliers and stakeholders updated about your business operations
• answer emails promptly, thank people for their support and log customer phone calls
• let people know about recovery steps, milestones, or successes.

• The safety, health and wellbeing of our staff and customers is our first priority.
• In response to (add health event) we are following all directives issued by the Chief Health Officer and doing everything possible to ensure the safety of all staff and customers at our premises.
• We are continuing to monitor our policies in this changing environment and do our part to prevent the spread of (add health event).
• In line with guidance provided by Queensland Health we have updated our cleaning and hygiene measures in line with recommended guidelines. These include (list measures).
• To find out more about (add health event) visit (list appropriate websites and/or organisations).
• Thank you for your patience. We are receiving a high volume of phone calls and queries and will respond to your inquiry as soon as we can. In the meantime, please visit our website (or social media page) for more information.

• The safety, health and wellbeing of our staff and customers is our first priority.
• We are working closely with authorities to identify the source of the outbreak and providing every assistance to help them with contact tracing of customers who may be affected.
• We have followed all directives issued by Queensland Health to protect our staff and customers and will continue to do so.
• On advice from Queensland Health we will be temporarily closing our business and completing a deep clean of all surfaces and areas on the premises.

• We are working closely with authorities to investigate this incident to determine the exact source and cause.
• The safety and security of our (staff, customers or guests) is our first priority.
• Our practices and standards are in line with the strictest health and safety regulations.
• We will continue making every effort to abide by these standards and will update our food handling processes if they are found to be responsible for the incident, to prevent this from happening again.
• If anyone who has eaten (provide specific details of food source and timings) and is experiencing symptoms of (list symptoms), we advise you seek medical assistance.
• We sincerely apologise for any distress this incident has caused and our thoughts are with those who have been affected.

For more information, read emergency workplace accident or death messaging.