FEATURE RISK MANAGEMENT


Muddying the picture is the fact that


risk comes in so many forms: road traffic accidents, civil unrest and severe weather conditions, plus conspicuousness as a newcomer or foreigner, tiredness when driving, medical conditions – new or existing – opportunistic crime and travel delays. In short, there is no such thing as a safe destination. A slew of events – both natural and man-made – have raised awareness of the need to know where employees are, ensure they are safe and have a Plan B in place in case something goes horribly wrong. But where do you start? First, define risk, then take all practicable measures to ensure that you and your travellers are not exposed to it. This involves pre, during and post-trip analysis. Pre-trip analysis should cover both the


physical and mental health of the traveller to ensure good overall fitness to travel and take on the task. This impinges on the company reputation: if a project fails due to illness, the business suffers. And post-trip assessment is not just


to elicit which elements of the risk pro- gramme worked – or didn’t – but also to ensure that any traveller exposed to an incident is not traumatised, something that can require monitoring long after the event.


The Corporate Manslaughter and


Corporate Homicide Act 2007 means senior management/directors may be held responsible if an employee dies in the course of duty as a result of failures judged to be a gross breach of duty of care. Although the law is valid only in the UK, if manifest failings that occurred before travel result in a death abroad, it can still be applied. “Duty of care is uniform across all employees – the cleaner, the CEO or the guy in a warehouse in Berlin,” says risk management specialist at Concur, Jon Richardson. Concur’s recently launched Risk Messaging platform identifies risk for companies, reports on incidents in real time and provides an interactive heat map showing the locations of employees, regardless of whether they are travelling, and sends real-time safety messages directly to staff. Doing due diligence on all potential


destinations is also a pre-requisite. For example, little business will be done on


an election day and there could also be associated civil unrest. BCD Travel’s white paper recommends


the following structure for creating a risk management programme: • Organise: get the right people involved; • Collect: get the right data; • Analyse: map risks; • Plan: mitigate risks; • Execute: introduce tools and processes; • Communicate: inform travellers; • Audit: keep the programme relevant The right people are HR, IT, legal, security, travel, senior management and suppliers. Given such a disparate bunch, it is not surprising that one of the


“We advise corporations to have an ‘I’m okay policy,’ which asks travellers to let their employer know they are OK if there is an incident”


greatest risks to a programme is poor communication between departments, so first stop is to create a representative body from all disciplines and then give one person ownership.


TMCs play a vital role in auditing a risk management programme. “They can see whether people are compliant or travelling outside policy,” says managing director of Erudite Crisis Associates, Steve Thompson. They also hold traveller profiles and


are best placed to gather all possible means of communicating with travellers, including personal mobile numbers and email addresses. Explanation of the reasons for this gets around data protection restrictions. Travel and HR profiles can be linked for


greatest effectiveness, putting TMCs in the strongest position to check travellers are safe in the event of an incident. It is also important to get travellers to


sign off against policy, so that they take responsibility for knowing what it says. In addition, “We advise corporations to


have an ‘I’m okay policy,’ which asks travellers to let their employer know they are OK if there is an incident,” says Matthew Judge, managing director of risk and security specialists, Anvil. Technology also plays a central role in


risk management, whether that is tools that concentrate all communication in one place, panic button apps, e-learning modules, traveller tracking or the ability


Communication with and education of employees is crucial. Start by making your travel risk policy available in print and online. In addition, “Ensure travellers know whether leisure travel is covered by business insurance; for example, a weekend break added to a business trip,” says regional medical director for Inter- national SOS Robert Quigley. He adds: “Advise your insurance company in advance where your travellers are going, including when their itinerary changes.” Value Retail runs retail parks in Europe


and China and its travel manager, Mark Payne, says: “We had people going to the US and China and not one of them was carrying a copy of the corporate travel insurance policy. There is now a copy on the intranet which they can print off and take with them, or take as a soft copy on an iPad. “That is massive. It says 'we are looking


after you' to our travellers, and we have been proactive in managing people’s expectations,” he explains.


to post information on websites. Organisations such as International


SOS, Red24, iJet, Anvil and Aon are specialists not only in medical matters but also security services and risk mitigation. Most TMCs have a relationship with one of these and their services are invaluable – but it is an area of expertise. Value Retail’s Mark Payne is tendering


for a TMC and expects them to have such a relationship in place. “It has frustrated me for a number of years that TMCs claim to do everything and then don’t deliver effectively,” he says. “I want the basics from a TMC: to book our flights, provide stable technology and traveller tracking with a preferred partner such as Red24, ISOS. Because it is such a specialist area, we can’t afford not to have professionals involved.” This extends beyond traveller tracking:


both legally and ethically, companies are obliged to ensure that employees can travel safely on their behalf and are apprised of what action to take if the wheels come off.


THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 23


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