In the insurance business, planning for the unexpected is all in a day's work. But for the past several months, Paul Klahn has been planning for the unthinkable: an avian flu pandemic.

As information security officer for Assurant Employee Benefits, a Kansas City-based unit of insurance firm Assurant, Klahn is part of a team preparing the company should a pandemic strike. Team members plot out how to weather scary scenarios like severe workforce shortages, the need to keep employees apart and a possible surge in claims.