International business travelers can encounter many risks in their journeys, from natural disasters to terrorism to health issues. Companies have moral, ethical and legal obligations to ensure the safety of their employees through best practices, says Chris Holt, consulting director on the crisis management team at Towers Watson & Co.

International business travelers can be exposed to risks above and beyond those associated with domestic travel.

In emerging markets, safety infrastructure can be tenuous and low-level crime endemic, but travel to developed countries also can create problems. While many organizations are rightly concerned about the risks posed by natural disasters, terrorism and kidnap for ransom, it is more often health and disease issues, road traffic collisions, or low-level violent crime that lead to employees requiring assistance.

Obviously, travel risk to employees cannot be completely eliminated, but companies do have moral, ethical and legal obligations to ensure the safety of their employees. So what “best practice” measures might an organization sending travelers overseas be reasonably expected to take?

While high-performing companies will of course be driven by the desire to meet moral and ethical obligations, which align with good business practice, understanding their legal liabilities in detail for employee safety during travel is not always straightforward and predictable.

Broadly, there are two areas of interest: legislative risk predominantly relating to “duty-of-care” obligations; and personal injury lawsuits based on unreasonable exposure. Legislation relating to duty of care is evolving with case-law examples, but there are fairly consistent principles to be found in North America and Europe. Even where these laws have no stated extraterritorial reach, corporate liability can still be created through negligence. Personal injury lawsuits can be brought by employees, but also by nonemployees if negligence can be demonstrated. Developing appropriate corporate governance measures ensures an organization is protecting not just its people, but also itself.

There are four main strands of activity that together can ensure appropriate corporate governance of international travel risk. These are:

• Risk assessment

• Traveler preparation

• Risk monitoring

• Response

Risk assessment

It is important to consider the risks that employees might be exposed to on a business trip, and to record what assessment has been made. At the most basic level, a company should be able to demonstrate it is aware of the risks in a geographical location. However, in order to conduct an effective risk assessment, a company needs to consider not just the proposed destination, but the individual and his or her planned activities, too. It also can be useful to establish criteria to group trips as routine, elevated or high risk. Using an initial assessment of the potential risks, organizations can draw up options for transport, accommodation and, where required, additional hosting or security requirements.

Traveler preparation

The first step to ensure that employees are appropriately prepared is to communicate a clear and uncomplicated safe travel policy. Policies that are effective tend to be short and clarify the balance of responsibilities between a company and an individual. It is useful to remind employees that while on business, they should adjust their behavior to meet the risk tolerance of their employer. The policy also should provide clarity about where next-of-kin and other personal information should be held.

Individuals should be made aware of the risks before travel. Where the exposure is over and above what might be expected for routine travel, it should be made clear there is no requirement for an employee to take personal risk in order to advance his or her career. Those traveling to the most challenging environments might need to attend a five-day Hostile Environment Awareness Training, or “HEAT,” course, but for most business trips there are short e-learning packages to ensure that people are informed of basic situational awareness and cultural sensitivity.

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Risk monitoring

Once an employee has left home, there is an onus on a company to monitor his or her progress. If an employee is in a city where a major incident is unfolding, then the company should be closely monitoring the situation. By being duly informed, they are better positioned either to avoid exposure by changing their plans, or to start designing pragmatic responses if employees are caught up in unexpected events. Travel tracking does not necessarily require subscription to expensive service providers, and for growing small to medium-sized enterprises, effective travel monitoring can often be delivered by travel booking departments.

If travelers have a problem they need to “self-report,” it is useful for them to have one international number to call for assistance. By providing a single point of help, organizations can ensure that the traveler can access the most appropriate assistance, that problem resolution is effective, and that relevant individuals inside the company and family members are kept informed. Again, this does not need to be overly complex or expensive, but it does need to be manned on a 24/7 basis. Those answering calls need to be familiar with all of the remedies available to a company traveler, including business travel or personal accident insurance, local office numbers or the details of medical and other service providers who can assist.

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Response

A company can make every effort to manage the risks associated with business travel, but sometimes incidents happen. Organizations need to accept this reality and have robust measures in place to respond to a range of incidents that might reasonably be expected to occur.

Companies should have a credible crisis management plan and a pragmatic idea of how they might operate on a 24/7 basis should they need to manage emergency repatriation or a kidnap. This plan should include basics, such as escalation criteria, the allocation of responsibilities, family and employee management, and the details of the crisis communications plan. Companies that respond well to travel-related incidents tend to have resilience in other parts of their business; responding poorly can create concern among employees, the families of employees, and customers.

International business travel presents a management issue where the risks are evolving at the same time the obligations on an organization are increasing. Companies owe a duty of care to their employees, and, if they use common sense and a pragmatic approach, travel can be conducted safely, and businesses will be allowed to grow in a changing international environment.

Chris Holt is the consulting director of Towers Watson & Co.'s newly formed crisis management team in London. He can be reached at chris.holt@towerswatson.com