Zurich Provides Information to Help Business Owners Protect Their Employees and Profitability from Risks Associated with a Possible Swine Flu Pandemic

Zurich HelpPoint creates webinar for its customers to explain in detail the
strategic steps a business should take now to improve resiliency when facing a
potential pandemic
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(Business Wire)--
Zurich, a leading property and casualty insurance provider in North America and
globally, announced today it is working to help prepare its customers for the
current swine flu outbreak by delivering information that can help their
enterprise minimize the potential impacts associated with a pandemic outbreak or
other cascading business disruptions. Regardless of what course the current
swine flu outbreak takes, Zurich is helping its customers get ready for the
impact a potential swine flu pandemic could have on their business.

"This is not the time to panic," said Victor Gordon, Risk Engineering director
of Technical Services for Zurich Services Corporation. "The first essential step
for a business is to do what they can to protect the health and welfare of
employees and their families. Once this is in place, then it is time to increase
the resilience of the business."

To prepare for the effects of a pandemic, business owners may need to change the
way they conduct business.

Gordon continued, "Typically, businesses prepare for the potential of crisis
through business continuity plans, and most of these plans are geared to handle
shorter term, more acute, incidents such as fire and flood. What`s different
about this threat is that it may disrupt businesses for longer periods. Zurich
will help its customers with guidelines and best practices to help them adjust
their plans to prepare them for the possibility that this may disrupt their
business for an extended period of time."

Zurich suggests business owners follow the strategic steps below to help
mitigate their exposures and minimize the impacts from a potential swine flu
pandemic.

1. Develop a pandemic action committee to review, plan and oversee a company`s
response to a potential swine flu pandemic and how it will minimize the spread
of communicable disease in the workplace.

2. Identify critical processes and functions that must continue for a business
to remain viable. Determine if some processes and functions can be automated or
managed remotely or with fewer employees.

3. Evaluate critical suppliers and customers: Does a company have critical
suppliers located in affected regions? Identify suppliers that provide critical
raw materials, component parts or essential services and develop a contingency
plan for how to operate if suppliers weren`t available. Also, consider that a
company may be a critical supplier to customers.

4. Identify essential employees or expertise: Find ways to protect critical
employees through isolation or by having them work remotely. Consider travel
restrictions for employees to affected areas.

5. Review sick leave and disability leave policies as well as any
government-mandated leave policies: Encourage healthy employees to come to work
and ill employees to stay home unless mandates are in place.

6. Review physical and security considerations: Evaluate the workplace and
consider promoting social distancing (three to six feet) between employee
workstations to minimize potential infections.

7. Develop communication and employee packages: Keep employees informed on what
the company is doing to keep them healthy along with general information on
swine flu.

8. Align action steps with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) pandemic stages: Check their Web sites to learn about
the identified stages of a pandemic and align the company plan to the
appropriate stage.

In addition to the suggested steps, Zurich`s Risk Engineering group has
developed a webinar to help its customers rethink sustainability and cope with
business continuity during a potential swine flu pandemic. A resilient
enterprise will be better able to anticipate surprises, recover from
disruptions, adapt to changing conditions, and leverage emerging opportunities.

The 40-minute session covers strategic steps that business owners need to do
right now to ensure they are prepared to survive and thrive in situations such
as this. The webinars will focus on critical continuity planning and recovery
points that will help make business more disaster resilient, such as:

* Preventative measures and crisis planning
* Sick and disability leave plans
* Supply chain disruption and alternatives
* Minimizing impact to critical processes and functions
* Communication and education to employees

The webinars will be presented for Zurich customers during the following dates
and times:

* Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 3 p.m. central
* Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 3 p.m. central
* Friday, May 1, 2009 at 2 p.m. central

Additional webinars will be added as needed to accommodate demand. For more
information about the webinars, e-mail refeedback@zurichna.com.

This is intended as a general description of certain types of risk engineering
services available to qualified customers through Zurich Services Corporation.
Zurich Services Corporation does not guarantee particular outcomes and there may
be conditions on your premises or within your organization which may not be
apparent to us.You are in the best position to understand your business and your
organization and to take steps to minimize risk, and we wish to assist you by
providing the information and tools to assess your changing risk
environment.Businesses, both large and small, are responsible for their own loss
control activities. Zurich offers risk engineering solutions - comprised of
tools, reports and information from literally millions of past claims from
nearly every industry segment -- that can help businesses minimize and better
control losses and improve their bottom line.

About Zurich

Zurich`s North America Commercial and Global Corporate in North America business
divisions are part of ZurichFinancialServicesGroup (Zurich), an insurance-based
financial services provider with a global network of subsidiaries and offices in
North America and Europe as well as in Asia Pacific, Latin America and other
markets. Founded in 1872, the Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It
employs approximately 60,000 people serving customers in more than 170
countries. In North America, Zurich (www.zurichna.com) is a leading commercial
property-casualty insurance provider serving the global corporate, large
corporate, middle market, specialties and programs sectors.

Media contact:
Zurich
Jennifer Nowacki
(847) 605-6511
jennifer.nowacki@zurichna.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009