Employers are required to take every reasonable step to ensure the health, safety and well-being of their employees. This includes abiding by the relevant employment and health and safety legislation and the common law duty of care.
While legislation tends to have a forward-thinking remit — "follow these rules to avoid punishment or penalties" — common law is based on past judicial decisions. In the case of duty of care by employers, this means that judgments on negligence and liability are made by looking back over similar situations and considering whether any precautions that were taken were sufficient.
The UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Institute of Directors publish guidance on the H&S responsibilities of company directors, encouraging boards to accept their collective role in providing health and safety leadership, take decisions and actions that reflect their health and safety policy. Since the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act in 2007 the HSE has been actively prosecuting directors and managers for health and safety failings within their company. And when the sentencing guidelines were updated in February 2016, the activity stepped up a notch. For example, in the year ending 31 March 2016, the number of directors and managers prosecuted by the HSE rose to 46 from 15 the previous year and fines rose by 43%.
While the majority of all HSE prosecutions are related to site-based accidents, companies also have a duty of care to their employees who are off site on company business. In the case of business travellers, employers would be wise to actively consider the many problems their employees could face while they are away from base and plan how each one would be handled. Because if they are on your business they are on your watch — and the cost of prevention is less than the cost of dealing with incidents.
Plan here for problems there
Sadly there are many real risks facing business travellers, especially those heading abroad. At one end you have the (rare) cases of terror attacks, kidnapping, epidemic diseases and natural disasters, at the other the far more frequent incidents such as road accidents, illnesses and falling victim to petty crime.
These and more could be considered under the duty of care section of a comprehensive and robust travel management policy. The duty of care aspects could sit with your company's security team or your HR department, but meetings and travel managers, organisers and bookers should also be able to contribute to the document and keep it updated to reflect new and changing information.
Accept the responsibility
According to research carried out by Atomik Research in 2015, just 44% of the 103 HR professionals questioned said that they provide staff working overseas with company guidelines for travelling on business. Only 38% said they carry out risk assessments if an employee is being sent into an area considered 'high risk'.
Even more worryingly, many of those questioned believed that their travel management company (TMC) would provide medical and security assistance for employees travelling abroad (55%) and 40% thought they would handle any required crisis management and response. While this may be true in some cases, most TMCs would not have the specialist expertise or network required to deal with absolutely any kind of incident, anywhere in the world.
Consider the worst case scenario
In the field of psychology, 'catastrophising' refers to the tendency to view events as worse than they really are. While it may not be a helpful approach for day-to-day life, it is exactly the kind of mindset that you need to adopt when considering the consequences of business travel. Because once you have thought about everything that could possibly go wrong you can work out how you would deal with it if you had to.
Looking at the potential pitfalls already mentioned (terror attacks, kidnapping, epidemic diseases, natural disasters, road accidents, sudden illness, petty crime) each one of them could be considered alongside a list of questions that need to be answered in each scenario:
- Who would they contact, and how?
- Who would take responsibility for their wellbeing?
- Who else would need to be informed?
- What steps would be taken to improve their situation?
- How would those steps be funded?
While some incidents are statistically more likely than others, this does not mean that nothing can be done to prevent them. Risk management is a refusal to believe that 'accidents happen'. Take road traffic accidents, which would rank as a high risk event for employees travelling abroad. The fact is that different countries have different rules that can catch people by surprise. In Belgium, the speed limit along most residential roads is just 12 miles per hour. In Denmark, drivers have to slow right down along wet roads to ensure other road users are not splashed. In Switzerland, pedestrians are considered to have right of way and are likely to step into the road and expect drivers to stop. So while your employees may be perfectly able to drive, part of your duty of care could involve advising them how to drive elsewhere.
Top tips
Create destination guides
Prepare guidelines for your travellers explaining any local rules, regulations and customs that could get them into trouble if not adhered to. The UK Government's Foreign Office keeps its website updated with travel alerts, local laws and customs, health advice (immunisation requirements and known risks) and more covering 225 countries and territories and should have most of the information you need to create bespoke sheets for your regular business destinations.
Secure appropriate insurance
Standard terms and off-the-shelf policies may not offer adequate protection for all business travellers. Check the small print to see what exemptions are listed under the terms and conditions.
Enable two-way communications
Travellers should set off knowing who they are supposed to get in touch with if they have problems and how. They should also know how to inform you of their whereabouts and status, so ensure you have a communication channel that will be open around the clock to cover different time zones.
Centralise critical data
If you are organising meetings or events, gather your delegate registration details into one centralised system. This will make it easier and quicker for you to find important information (names, contact numbers) and send out urgent communications.
The exit doors are here, here and here
Regular air passengers hear the same safety talk so often that many barely look up when the flight attendants start the familiar drill. In a perfect world, employees would be similarly aware of the practical arrangements and contingency plans their company has put in place to protect and preserve their well-being on every business trip. Because if everyone knows exactly what they have to do in times of trouble they have a far better chance of getting themselves out of it.