NEW HAMBURG, Ont. – The Erb Group, one of the country’s largest refrigerated transportation fleets, is doing its part to ensure that any potential crisis caused by an avian flu pandemic will be managed as smoothly as possible. A task force for business continuity management has been in place at Erb since 2004, but it mainly addressed recovery and prevention for Erb’s technological capabilities in the event of computer, communications or power disruptions. However, with the increased threat of a flu outbreak, the company has directed Erb’s task force to prepare the organization for the challenges this may bring.

Among the many daunting policy issues a company like Erb might face include sorting freight priority (ensuring that medical support related freight such as hospital deliveries, medicine and vaccines, blood services, etc., can be maintained) as well as ensuring that essential food supplies will be delivered in the most efficient way possible. Erb officials credit the Ontario Trucking Association’s recent business continuity management seminar as being very useful to their planning process, having provided clear and significant details for business risk management.

“The daily commitment of our management team is to strive to keep our people on the roads and in our terminals safe, and to provide dependable service to our customers – this makes our business continuity management and pandemic planning crucial – so that we can be assured that we have done everything in our power to fulfill our goals,” said Wendell Erb, general manager of the Erb Group.