WORDS ROB GILL


DUTY-OF-CARE


FAST TRACKING “WE HAVE HAD PEOPLE WHO


HAVE REFUSED AN EVACUATION SERVICE BECAUSE IT DID NOT INVOLVE THEIR PET”


Duty-of-care doesn’t just extend to getting workers to remote installations in inhospitable parts of the world; companies in the EMM sectors have also become more focused on making sure they can track employees on more straightforward business trips. One buyer in the sector said it


Crew cleaning up after the BP oil spill.


Alabama, US, May 2010


had reviewed its tracking abilities following the spate of terrorist attacks in major European capitals, including London and Paris. “Locating travellers used to be a very manual process but now we’re moving to a technology-based system that will allow us to locate our workers more quickly in an emergency – for example, we will know how many people we have in London very quickly if something happens,” she added. This focus should also extend


to accommodation, says Greeley Koch, executive director of ACTE, who believes that hotel security is an “often-overlooked component in duty-of-care” within corporate travel generally. “It is not enough to create security policies based only on air travel and location-based threat assessments,” he says. “Even some places we would consider ‘safe’ have experienced serious terrorist attacks on hotels. Travel managers must understand the importance of making sure travellers are safe at every stop on their itinerary.”


adds. “We look at the risk profile – what do you have to protect? What have you got to protect it with? And, finally, what do you have to protect it from? An evacuation plan is always designed if a client is going to open a new office in a new location.” If an evacuation plan (see panel, left)


has to be activated, the TMC plays its role within the client’s emergency team by booking accommodation and flights to rendezvous points and then organising travel for employees and contractors to their homes around the world. One of the challenges of managing EMM travel is that crews typically come from across the globe.


In association with Assessing risk is important for all EMM


travel, says Clark. “When it comes to safety and security, it’s hard enough for the ordinary traveller who is just going on vacation. If you’re going from the UK to Paris, a simple country-to-country journey, there’s still a risk profile. “But there’s an exponentially higher risk environment when you work in a mine, rig or marine vessel. It’s like an extra step – you’re not just going to a region but also to a specific type of facility. Although we talk about the security risks, it’s far more likely that somebody will suffer a safety incident in these industries.”


TMCs have an important part to play in helping clients in these sectors to mitigate risk by offering global 24-hour services and emergency planning for when people need to be moved at short notice. “Clients are doing everything they can to mitigate any risk to their employees,” says Amex GBT’s Davidson. “Examples like Deepwater Horizon highlight how quickly things can go wrong and the importance of disaster recovery and business continuity planning to ensure you have the right people in the right roles, and that you’re operating the right security protocols to protect lives.”


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