Jardines has set up a three-prong plan to battle SARS: prevention, staff care, and a business continuity plan. On prevention, it is enforcing a rigorous cleaning schedule and advising staff to avoid overseas travel.

"By law, an employer must, so far as reasonably practicable, ensure the safety and health at work of all employees," she said. "This obviously involves a lot of human resources issues regarding managing the SARS risk."

It has also set up risk management team to provide a centre for communication and emergency decisions. This is manned by people with the authority to take necessary steps should a member of staff contract SARS, Ms Chan said.

The company also provides staff with information on how SARS spreads, how to minimise risk of infection, and special preventive measures for staff in high-risk jobs, such as lift fitters.

Ms Chan said it is important that companies treat staff fairly during these difficult times, otherwise, once conditions improve they will leave the company.

Emil Yu, Director of Keystone Electric Wire & Cable, also speaking at the seminar, said employers must take care of their employees' concerns and establish a mutual trust to get through the SARS crisis. He also stressed that given that the chances of catching SARS is very low, businesses should adopt a proper attitude towards SARS.

"Companies should try to continue 'business as usual'," he said. However, "We have to stay alert and conduct periodic self-assessments of operations to see where potential risks can be minimised."

Mr Yu, whose managers need to travel to Guangdong two to three times a week to visit their factory there, now insists all managers use the company car if they have to take a trip to the Mainland to enable them to drive across the border and avoid public transportation.

He has also got his staff exercising 15 minutes every morning to build up their immune systems. "It's surprising how many people can't even do 15 minutes gentle exercise," he laughs.

For SMEs, he recommends they set up a contingency plan, such as segregating essential operations into to minimum teams. "If one person performs a key function, perhaps it is time to start training a second employee in case anything happens," he suggests.

He also suggests companies get staff involved in brainstorming how they can reduce costs and implement new measures to make up for the loss of business.

Also speaking at the seminar was Dr John Merritt, Principal Medical Officer, Cathay Pacific Airways. The number of people flying has plunged by over 75 percent, but Dr Merritt says the risk of in-flight transmission is actually very low.

Given that fresh air is continuously introduced into the cabin and the entire air circulation in the plane is refreshed every two to three minutes, the chances of a virus spreading on an aeroplane are minimal he said.

The airline and airport authority have also introduced stringent ground measures to prevent infected passengers from boarding a plane in the first place.

Government announcements requesting that all passengers on a certain flight have to contact the hospital because a passenger suspected of being infected with SARS was onboard add to the public's worries about flying. Such announcements should always be followed up by another announcement informing the public of the results of the alert.

"The perceived risk is far greater than the actual threat," he said. "People always fear the unknown, but they deal with facts and numbers and get on with life."

Ms Chan's Speech Slides Mr Yu's Speech Slides Q&A

Dr Merritt's Speech Slides Q&A