Duty of Care begins long before take-off
Travis Vincent, director of security services at International SOS, looks at the challenges of implementing Duty of Care for business travellers and expatriate workers
The tens of thousands of executives and employees stranded in various parts of the world due to the volcanic ash cloud emitted from Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland is a timely reminder of the risks associated with business travel. While we cannot usually predict acts of god, businesses do have a duty to ensure that employees familiarise themselves with the country they are going to before they travel and that they are trained to act in accordance with best practice should a situation occur.
The last year alone saw 3.5 million international trips by employees, a quarter of which were to high or extreme risk destinations. Away from familiar working environments, business travellers may encounter threats to their health, safety and security, such as illness, outbreaks of civil unrest, terrorism and natural disasters. If both the employer and employee have prepared in advance, employees will be better prepared to undertake their journey and the employer is better prepared to assist them.
This is not just a "nice to have", it is a "must have". Duty of Care is underpinned by UK law, and is based on the tort of negligence and also found in statutes such as the Health and Safety at Work Act. The recently enacted Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act further underpins the requirement for employers to ensure the safety of their employees. The responsibility for implementing a comprehensive Duty of Care programme rests with senior management – the moral and legal duty towards their respective employees has never been more important. Avoiding negligence and liability are powerful incentives for senior management to stand up and take note of their obligations in addition to wanting to foster a productive and effective workforce.
Adhering to the principles of Duty of Care is in essence about organisations making every effort to avoid the risk of reasonably foreseeable dangers to the traveller. Employers are expected to take practical steps to safeguard their international assignees and expatriates against such threats. However, many organisations are operating across borders without fully understanding their obligations and, consequently, not providing the right level of care and due diligence.
The concept of Duty of Care for business travellers is relatively straight forward; the challenge lies in the execution and fulfilment of it and ensuring that employers are aware of the legal requirements placed upon them. However, if an organisation invests time and resources in risk management strategies, it can protect itself against claims of negligence while ensuring business continuity and increasing the wellbeing of its business travellers.
When implementing a comprehensive Duty of Care strategy, the first stage is becoming familiar with the travel needs of the employee. From this starting point, policies and procedures can be developed to ensure the employee's requirements are met. For instance, organisations should undertake an assessment of the foreseeable risks associated with a particular location and ensure that this assessment is credible and documented. Employers should then put in place a travel risk management strategy for individual travellers, conduct risk assessments of specific high-risk destinations or jobs and then carry out risk mitigation strategies. This will mean employees are fully prepared for their trip before they leave and are aware of both the risks and, most importantly, how to mitigate them. Employees should leave for their trip feeling confident and informed about their destination and any hazards associated with it.
Duty of Care also stresses the importance of the flow of regular two-way information between employee and employer. A support structure should be in place to assist individuals when they are travelling so employers are aware of their movements and can locate them at any time wherever they may be in order to assist them in the event of a medical or security incident. This also allows employees to alert their employer about a potential risk or to ask a routine question at any time. The travel manager must be familiar with the employee's travel itinerary so they can track their movements and assist them 24/7.
By putting in place a comprehensive travel risk management strategy, organisations are on the road to fulfilling their Duty of Care obligations and employees are on the road with peace of mind.
Travis Vincent, director of security services, International SOS
