Julie Jones, senior member services manager, ABTA
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The health and safety of your staff has to be a top priority for any business. Ensuring a safe work environment through efficient and rigorous Health & Safety procedures is a basic requirement and will be embedded in any reputable company's working practices. However, ensuring the health and safety of the business traveller presents a whole new range of challenges and it's an area where the expertise and knowledge of a TMC can prove invaluable.
A few weeks ago, very few people outside the medical profession would have been aware of the Zika virus. This is perhaps unsurprising, as only one in five people display any symptoms at all if infected, and for those who do, the effects are fairly mild. However, the recent discovery of a possible connection between infection and severe foetal abnormalities caused The World Health Organisation to issue a warning about the dangers to pregnant women. This was swiftly followed by the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) in the UK advising that pregnant travellers should reconsider travelling to countries where Zika is prevalent.
Amongst the business travel community, companies will have needed to know urgently whether any of their staff might be put at risk, as part of their general duty of care, as well as requiring the latest up to date information from the leading authorities and experts in this area.
As soon as the medical advice changed, ABTA issued advice to all of its members, many of whom are TMCs, giving them clear, coherent guidance for their customers. We have continued to send out regular updates on the Zika threat, benefiting from our close working relationship with both NaTHNaC and the Foreign Office. Zika looks likely to spread to other countries in the Americas and Caribbean and if it does so, ABTA TMCs will have the immediate benefit of the most current and accurate information.
Female business travellers will need to be made aware of the risks from Zika at the time of booking. Inevitably, this may lead to some of them not being able to travel to certain parts of the world. However, an accurate and thorough understanding of the risks and affected destinations which can be provided by your ABTA TMC, will enable a decision to be made on the basis of sound factual evidence, rather than speculation. This will not only minimise potential risks but will also enable businesses to reassure their female members of staff when travelling to countries where Zika is prevalent, that the risks to their health have been properly assessed and taken into account.
Zika has graphically illustrated the volatile, unpredictable nature of the global village in which we work and live, as well as the increasingly important need for the expertise and reassurance that an ABTA TMC can offer to the business travel community.