Planning for such an event, he advised, must take in the entire spectrum of a company's operation and devise ways to deal with issues from trying to stem the extent of contamination, to working with suppliers who are equally affected by the disease.

"Public and private organizations need to be better aware of the immediate, larger environment in which they operate," said Mr. Lynch. "They need to understand how government, stakeholders and the public will react to a pandemic outbreak.

"These organization need to understand how to communicate around a pandemic outbreak to both internal and external audiences. They need to be better prepared for the economic fallout by assurances from stakeholders, especially suppliers," he said.

Neal Drawas, managing director with Kroll's corporate preparedness group, noted that many companies are not ready for an outbreak and still need to develop a plan. He said an effective planning team involves a broad spectrum of management to develop an understanding of what kind of plan will work for the company.

Training and communication is the centerpiece of an effective plan, he said. A company that fails to effectively plan for such an outbreak, said Mr. Drawas, can face more costly consequences from the outbreak than it would cost to have an executable plan in place.

Because Asia dealt with the SARS epidemic a few years ago, it is well aware of the dangers and is dealing with the current Avian flu outbreaks quickly, said Rosaline Chow Koo, Asia Pacific business leader with Mercer Health and Benefits, a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, which is also the parent of Marsh and Kroll.

She noted that Asian-based companies have plans in place, and have stockpiled equipment to deal with an outbreak.

In their planning, companies should consider liberal leave policies, to allow sick employees to remain out of the office until they have recovered and help prevent the spread of the virus, she said.

On a positive note, Dr. Toby Merlin, of the Centers for Disease Control, said there has been no serious outbreak of the Avian flu in the form of human to human contract, which would signal the start of a pandemic. There have been 258 confirmed cases of the disease in 10 countries, with a 50 percent fatality rate.

From the insurance side, Howard Whitmore, head of Marsh's International practice, noted there is no specific policy for business interruption caused by the outbreak. There are some specialty products helpful to small businesses, but they are limited.

Overall, Mr. Whitmore said, companies will have to rely on their general commercial policies that would generally not cover business interruption caused by a pandemic outbreak. France is developing a pandemic fund, should an outbreak occur there, he noted.

He recommended that should there be an outbreak, a company should keep detailed records and report the claim quickly.

A complete replay of the Web seminar is available through the firm's Web site at www.mmc.com.