FEATURE
DUTY-BOUND TO PROTECT
International SOS’s Dr Jonathan O’Keeffe takes a closer look at employer responsibility and the Zika virus, currently rife in North America, and tells organisations how they can protect their staff when travelling in areas of risk.
With the Zika virus continuing to spread in parts of North America, and new figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) showing that 70 countries have reported evidence of its transmission, a company’s Duty of Care to its travelling employees remains as important as ever.
An employer’s Duty of Care relates to how a company must take reasonable precautions to protect their employees from foreseeable risk of injury, disease or death. UK national legislation, including the Corporate Manslaughter Act of 2008, requires companies to address employee health and safety risks. Duty of care applies, no matter what the worker’s location, at home or abroad or in transit, and regardless of the nature of the particular threat.
Employers should note that while Zika does not pose any significant health threat to people residing in the UK, business travellers should still be made aware of its risks and symptoms. This is particularly important for those employees who
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may be trying to conceive a child. Most travellers exposed to Zika through contact with infected mosquitos will have no major health consequence. The impact on an unborn child requires women intending to conceive (and their partners) to take special added precautions. Although the risk of adverse outcome is low, the impact may be tragic in this group.
From an HR perspective and to mitigate the risk of their conduct being found to be unreasonable, employers should always question whether a trip to an affected area is really needed, particularly if the employee is pregnant, or trying to fall pregnant and adequately assess the risk, prior to travel.
Employers should always prepare and educate workers about the locations they will be working in. Zika may be a distraction in light of high rates of malaria or dengue fever. Other risks such as injury through road traffic accident should also be addressed in context.
Business travellers returning from areas with active transmission of the virus should be properly supporting and given advice. Any signs of a fever upon return home should prompt a call with a doctor at your company assistance provider.
Employees need to be provided with access to a 24-hour helpline, which can answer any medical questions, as well as facilitate the provision of emergency assistance at a time when a worker’s usual points of contact would not be available.
Organisations should also adopt systems to keep employees informed of changing health and security risks as they evolve regardless of how remote they may be from the office.
Advice from institutions such as the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and World Health Organisation should be triangulated with your global assistance provider to understand the relevance and implications of different travel alerts for your company and workers.
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