Scientists are planning a “big brother” style experiment to test some theories about the transmission of the flu.  They will infect a number of individuals and then expose them to a variety of social situations to see how the flu is transmitted.

I found it particularly interesting to see they are focusing on the debate over whether the flu is transmitted via airborne particles or surfaces.

This is an interesting question, not least because if surfaces can act to transmit the flu it opens up other routes for legal liability challenge.

Our pandemic report considers the following scenario:

“A catering company is responsible for the food for a particular global airline. It is discovered that the pandemic can be spread on packaging and after a review the global explosion of the pandemic is tracked back to a sick individual in the company whose health procedures were inadequate. Is the company responsible?”

The proposed Big Brother research may help to answer the question of whether packaging could spread the flu, and therefore help us to anticipate possible legal challenges in future.

Tags: Flu, Liability

This entry was posted by Trevor Maynard on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Exposure Management.