GUEST BLOG: Duty of care and responsible travel management

Jetting off to Kuala Lumpur for a conference? Visiting a client in Lagos? Auditing a new distribution centre in Sao Paulo? It may sound exciting, but take a moment to consider the risks you could face, as well as the policies and processes that you and your colleagues should implement to make these trips happen safely. Under the UK Corporate Manslaughter Act, organisations are required to do their utmost to inform travellers of and protect them from the risks they face when travelling. 

Here are three factors to consider when sending employees abroad:

Firstly, there’s the itinerary; booking flights, car hire or taxi services, hotel reservations, organising visas, and arranging insurance. This is just the tip of the iceberg from a travel management perspective; not only do these details have to be organised, but there should be quality criteria for all these elements. Choosing reliable airlines, safe hotels and registered taxi firms are just some of the considerations for such trips. Depending on your destination, you may need more specialist assistance such as security-trained drivers or close protection. Does your organisation have travel policies in place? Do you know them? Do you follow them?

Secondly, there’s the information. Before you travel, it’s important from both a duty of care and personal perspective that you know the risks you may face on your trip. Different destinations pose different threats, which can range from pickpocketing to kidnapping and terrorism. Being aware of these risks and knowing how to respond if faced with such an incident are crucial elements of undertaking any travel.

Finally, there’s the incident response. How does your organisation ensure that everything is going according to plan? Do you have an established crisis management plan? How and to what extent can they assist if something goes wrong? All these factors have to be considered in order to fulfil the duty of care which an organisation has to its employees.

This post was written by Red24 which is exhibiting at the Business Travel Show next week. Register now at www.businesstravelshow.com/register and make sure you visit the Responsible Travel Management Zone and enjoy the RTM conference sessions.