Corporate
travel assignments in emerging and remote destinations can see employees facing
a risky cocktail of sub-standard medical care, inadequate infrastructure and
unpredictable health and security threats.
Yet, these
employees expect their employers to protect them, regardless of where they are
in the world.
We’ve put
together three ways to do just that:
Be proactive, not
reactive
Disease
could be rampant, political instability brewing, or hospitals hard to access.
Cultural differences could even cause serious offence.
Employees
who know the risks of a remote assignment overseas, and how to mitigate them, are
less likely to get into difficulty - and more likely to feel reassured. In turn,
employers will be closer to meeting their duty of care obligations.
In
practice, this can mean (among other things) carrying out pre-travel medical
and security risk assessments, preparing for all eventualities, and educating staff
about everything from local medical care, to evacuation procedures, terrorism and
incident avoidance.
It can also mean predicting and mitigating real-time
threats to employees’ health and safety, once they are abroad; for example, the
risk of illness to family members, adverse weather, or even a political coup.
Trust in technology
Mobile
devices are multiplying faster than we are. But they are also playing an important
part in preparing,
informing and protecting employees working in remote areas abroad.
A mobile
app can give users access to a complete online travel risk management programme,
worldwide. And this can incorporate real-time medical and security intelligence
and alerts, risk mitigation and integrated global assistance; all available at
the swipe of a screen and tailored to destinations and needs.
By
providing location-based monitoring, check-in and tracking tools, mobile
technology can also give employers a birds’ eye view of their global staff and
assets in relation to real-time threats; enabling them to locate and assist
those in remote areas quickly, if emergency strikes.
This sort
of hand-held risk management provision can reduce the frequency and severity of
emergencies overseas.
Forget fragmented assistance
A medical emergency abroad can quickly spiral out of control if the right
advice is delayed, or the wrong decisions made. And no more so than in a remote or emerging
destination, where low-grade medical provision can soon turn an accident or
illness into an emergency.
The
“golden hour” after an incident can be crucial. Leave it any longer to help an
employee in difficulty and it may be too late. But, what if real-time security threats
need to be gauged before an ambulance sets off? If secure transport and armed
escorts are the only way to get a patient to hospital? Or if a natural disaster has made the route to a medical facility dangerous?
In these
cases, a fragmented medical and security assistance supply chain and lack of
incident planning could delay responses. And, it’s not just employees who
suffer. Employers could find themselves providing inefficient and complex
emergency responses that are unnecessarily costly.
Some health and
security risks in remote and emerging destinations
·
Road traffic accidents
·
Limited or inferior medical care
· Mosquito-borne diseases
· Unsafe tap water
· Heat-related illnesses
· Counterfeit medicines
· Rabid dogs
· Muggings and pickpocketing
· Car-jacking
· Passport theft
· Political instability
· Credit card cloning
·
Break-ins
This post was
written by Chris Knight, head of corporate assistance services at CEGA, a
Charles Taylor Company and provider of global assistance, travel risk and
claims management services.
CEGA and Solace Global Risk are
exhibiting their one-source medical and security assistance service Intrinsic
Assistance at the Business Travel Show on February 20th and 21st
2019, Stand B340. Travel bookers, buyers
and managers can register for a free pass here: https://www.businesstravelshow.com/register
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