SAFETY AND SECURITY
Global Business travelers may enjoy the fact that the hotel provides a complimentary breakfast and reliable Wi-Fi, but what they value most is a better sense of security when they travel on behalf on their organizations, according to a joint survey conducted by American Global Business Travel and the Association for Corporate Travel Executives. Security and safety concerns are growing at a significantly faster rate than worries about other topics including work-life balance issues, traveler-centric technologies and alternative suppliers.

DUTY OF CARE
There is also a growing awareness on the part of organizations in the United States of the legal, moral and ethical obligations they owe their employees under the complex and sometimes vague principles of Duty of Care. Corporate security, travel managers, human resources, and other key stakeholders must understand the notion of Duty of Care in the context of business travel in order to ensure that their companies are making reasonably informed, good faith, rational efforts to protect their employees as they travel.

The elements of a comprehensive traveler safety program that meets Duty of Care best practices will vary among organizations, depending on size, number of traveling employees, destination risk ratings, medical concerns and a variety of other topics. However, there are elements of a successful program that apply to every organization.

BEST PRACTICES
Key stakeholders within the organization must meet on a regularly-scheduled basis to examine existing travel polices to determine if any improvements need to be made. A thorough examination of the plans may reveal vulnerabilities, including resource gaps. In some cases, plans may need to be expanded. Other companies may lack any substantial travel safety procedures, and entirely new plans must be developed. Plans and policies should cover both routine travel and emergency incidents, including accidents, medical emergencies, natural disasters, emergency evacuations, and violent incidents.

The ability to track personnel as they travel is another vital component of the traveler safety program. Many travel management programs rely on multiple third-party Company Managed Travel Providers (CMTP) to book travel and provide situational awareness of employees. A common problem with this system is that it only tells the company where the employee is supposed to be, not where they are. Travelers are often forced to make last-minute changes to their itinerary, and will often book their own travel, without notifying the CMTPs of the changes. Providing the traveler with a GPS-based personnel tracking system may be an option for those companies looking for a more effective way to maintain accountability of their travelers.

A risk assessment should be conducted prior to every trip, regardless of destination. The assessment should not focus solely on the country’s Risk Rating. As attacks in the UK, Belgium, France, Canada and the United States have shown, all countries are susceptible to acts of violence, not just those with a High or Elevated Risk Rating. Additionally, definitively assigning a Risk Rating can be difficult, as risk is largely based on individual perspective and context. Employees should be encouraged to take an active role in the risk assessment and travel planning process so that they fully understand any known or suspected risks associated with their destination. Providing education and training to employees is another critical component of the system.

The purpose of the training program is to develop the employee’s skills and knowledge, so they can perform their duties with minimal or no interruptions because of risk, security or medical-related issues. Providing training to employees empowers them to make informed decisions regarding their personal security and safety, helping keep them safe while adding another layer of liability reduction for the company. Elements of a successful training program include general traveler safety and security information, conflict avoidance and response, emergency planning, and worst-case scenario procedures.

Should all mitigation efforts prove unsuccessful, and a traveler is involved in a critical incident, a comprehensive safety system helps ensure that they are provided with timely support and realistic options that work to minimize harm and distress, provide critical support, and brings the employee home safely. The ability of the organization’s Crisis Management Team to move quickly to provide support such as personnel accountability, crisis notifications, and the activation of emergency response systems such as medical support and evacuation cannot be overstated.

GLOBAL GUARDIAN SERVICES OVERVIEW
MEMBERSHIP OVERVIEW
Global Guardian utilizes a subscription-based pricing model. Clients pay an annual membership fee to have Global Guardian as their designated travel security and duty-of-care provider and to access its 24-hour Operations Center, team of security advisors and intelligence analysts, global tracking and monitoring platform, network of highly-vetted security providers, and comprehensive suite of security, medical, and aviation services. This subscription also includes all of Global Guardian’s non-custom and basic travel intelligence products and emergency incident notifications.

GLOBAL TRACKING AND MONITORING
Global Guardian tracks and precisely locates clients anywhere in the world. The company uses special purpose cellular and satellite tracking beacons and smartphone applications that provide real-time GPS position information for clients, allowing them to call for immediate assistance in the event of an emergency. Linked to an extensive network of highly skilled in-country security teams, Global Guardian’s 24-hour Operations Center monitors clients as they travel and can direct security assets to respond as needed in real-time. Global Guardian also monitors local and regional current events and provides clients with information about their security and safety situation while they travel.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Global Guardian maintains emergency security response teams in over 91 countries. These teams are notified to the presence of client travelers in their area and stand by to respond immediately to address client emergencies. All support is coordinated and closely directed by Global Guardian’s 24-hour Operations team to ensure rapid and high-quality response to a wide range of potential situations.

INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT
Global Guardian provides its clients with detailed travel intelligence products, real-time security alerts, and highly customized intelligence and due diligence products in support of any unique information requirement. Non-customized support and security incident alerts are included in the proposed package.

GLOBAL GUARDIAN AIR AMBULANCE – AIR MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION AND REMOTE MEDICAL SUPPORT
Global Guardian Air Ambulance, a division of Global Guardian, provides its clients with best-in-class air medical transportation
membership programs. These programs provide true no-cost air medical transportation to members who are injured or become ill while traveling. Unlike insurance, members have no deductibles or no claims forms, are not subject to complex restrictions for use and choose their US or Canadian destination hospital.

Global Guardian also provides emergency medical support through board certified, US-based emergency physicians that are available around-the-clock to travelers through the Global Guardian Operations Center. These physicians conduct remote diagnosis and ongoing treatment management of travelers’ injuries or illnesses, and direct patients to vetted local medical facilities as needed.

GLOBAL TRANSPORTATION AND SECURITY SERVICES
Global Guardian offers a full range of personnel-based security support to its clients. Such support includes secure transportation, security agents, full-scale executive protection details, and event and facility security management. All services are fully customizable to meet client need and are closely coordinated by Global Guardian’s 24-hour Operations Center at-all-times.

EMERGENCY AND CUSTOM AVIATION
Global Guardian supports its clients with comprehensive customized aviation capabilities. Be it for emergencies or customized specialty aviation needs, Global Guardian’s aviation team can access a wide range of aircraft operating around the globe to ensure the right assets are available when needed.

PHYSICAL, CYBER SECURITY, COUNTER INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE ASSESSMENTS, POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING
Global Guardian provides detailed physical and cyber security and vulnerability assessments, security and travel safety policy
development, and highly customized training programs for its clients.

Facility assessments are conducted domestically and abroad and are aimed at helping clients identify threats to their employees and operations. Such assessments are often paired with cyber evaluations of client site network security. Following an on-site assessment, Global Guardian prepares comprehensive deliverables detailing its findings and makes recommendations for how best to strengthen the security culture and physical and cyber infrastructure on site. Global Guardian can then assist in implementation of those recommendations.

One of the most common recommendations is the improvement or whole-cloth development of security and travel safety policies in support of a client’s workforce. If requested, Global Guardian’s team will work closely with to determine its objectives in policy work, and craft highly customized products that exactly mirror its requirements and corporate culture.

Lastly, no facility security plan nor safety policy is complete without some measure of training on how that plan and policy are implemented. As with its policy development work, Global Guardian prepares and executes highly customized training programs closely tailored to client objective and culture. Such courses include general travel safety, active shooter preparedness, and policy specific training.

GLOBAL GUARDIAN SENTRY – VIDEO SURVEILLANCE MONITORING
Global Guardian Sentry, a division of Global Guardian provides video monitoring and Virtual Guard services in support of client facilities, operations and residences. Global Guardian’s 24-hour Operations Center is staffed with highly trained surveillance analysts who can assess potential threats and respond in real-time to minimize unauthorized activity at client sites. Specific services include event driven, interactive video monitoring, active threat emergency response monitoring, and virtual guard tours. On request, Global Guardian will conduct no-cost testing of any existing camera systems to ensure compatibility and then provide facility specific service options and pricing.

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Looking after your travelers

If your employees have to travel for business of any kind, it’s up to you to ensure their safety as far as possible and communicate to them what to do in the event of an emergency. However duty of care is not just about emergencies and major world events – it could be someone losing their passport, missing a flight or falling ill while abroad. It’s also about those travel details that can improve your employees’ well being, like making sure they don’t have to drive after a long-haul flight.

Why duty of care is a priority

What is duty of care?

The perception and profile of duty of care has changed dramatically over recent years. Previously thought of as a concern for larger organisations, those with high risk travel (such as the energy and shipping sectors) or managing emergency travel situations – duty of care has now become a recognized essential for any travel program.

A definition of duty of care* 

Duty of Care refers to the moral and legal obligations of employers to their employees, contractors, volunteers and related family members in maintaining their well-being, security and safety when working, posted on international assignments or working in remote areas of their home country.

In those circumstances, individuals and organisations have legal obligations to act prudently to avoid the risk of reasonable foreseeable injury or exposures leading to ill health. This obligation may apply both to acts and omissions.

In addition to that, the employers are due to build a broad culture within their organisation addressing the health, safety, security and well-being of their employees and other related collaborators to the business. To do so, they are expected to develop and deploy appropriate travel risk management approaches to protect people from possible harm.

Protection for everyday travel 

Slow growth in the traditional economies of the West has led many businesses to look further afield – to the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) but also to emerging markets such as the CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa).

As companies explore developing economies, their employees are often required to go to riskier destinations where travel may not be so straightforward (for example West Africa).

Whilst managing travel to high risk or unfamiliar destinations is an important part of duty of care, it extends well beyond this and indeed just planning for travel emergencies. In fact the most common risks are road traffic accidents – people driving whilst on business, or pedestrians in busy cities such as London or Bangkok.

Additionally, in some countries employers also have a legal requirement to prioritize duty of care, for example the UK’s Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Where duty of care fits in to travel management

The importance of duty of care

Making sure that your employees feel safe and taken care of gives you a number of benefits. Firstly, simplifying travel and removing any nuisances makes it easier for your employees to get work done. Secondly, looking after employees is a good way of retaining the very best staff.

If you’re branching out into new markets, you might find yourself sending employees to destinations where travel isn’t straightforward. So it becomes even more important to put in place simple solutions for employees if they come into difficulty.

There’s also a need to prepare your employees ahead of their trip, so that they can clearly understand necessary preparations and what to expect when they arrive.

How businesses manage duty of care 

The management of duty of care varies by organisation. Some businesses have an established, extensive duty of care programme with cross-functional teams spanning the travel department, HR, security, risk management and senior managers. Often these organisations have safety engrained in their culture such as those operating in the energy and offshore industries. For example these companies will encourage employees to hold the hand rails when taking the stairs, mandate lids on hot drinks and often start meetings with a ‘safety moment’, including where the fire exits are.

In other organisations, often smaller, departments such as HR or senior managers are solely responsible for ensuring the safety of travelers. In some cases, there is no direct reference to duty of care in travel policies – and reasons behind maximum driving hours for example, are not explicitly explained as a safety initiative.

Key elements of a successful duty of care program

Through analysis of your travel program, you can understand where your employees are travelling to and define the health and security measures according to the level of risk at that particular destination. Organisations may define their ‘high risk’ destinations in different ways, some may use the guidelines provided by their medical and security providers – for others there are sites such as foreign offices or the European Commission which detail advice on travel to certain destinations and banned airline carriers.

Regardless of the size of your organisation, communication is vital. Travelers should be fully briefed before, during and after travel with necessary information and contact numbers – this includes familiarity with your travel policy. During travel it is important that employees have access to necessary information, such as who to contact in an emergency or specific high risk areas to avoid in their final destination.

The International SOS Foundation has created a ‘Travel Risk Mitigation Toolbox’ outlining the essentials organisations need to define health and safety risk measures for travelers.

The checklist includes:

• Pre-travel, what to implement from a preparation, information and compliance perspective

• During travel, how to deal with travel-related issues and ensure compliance

• Post-travel, what to review and improve in the travel risk and emergency management system

It covers legal and social responsibilities of the organisation:

1. Health and safety policy

2. Risk assessment for identifying risks and hazards

3. Organisation, planning and implementation

a. Information and advice

b. Competence and training

c. Fitness to travel, including travel health consultation

d. Travel health and security kits and supplies

e. Medical or security emergency management

f. Tracking and communicating

4. Evaluation

5. Action for improvement

How a travel management company can help 

As experts in business travel, your travel management company is ideally placed to advise and guide you on the right tools to manage traveler safety and security – and how to deliver a best practice duty of care program.

As per the checklist set out by the International SOS Foundation in their Travel Risk Mitigation Toolbox, a key element is assessing risk, organisation and strategic planning. At this stage your travel management company should provide consultancy – analyzing the current situation, understanding your business travel and recommending improvements before implementation.

Your travel management company should support travel managers and travelers at each step of their journey – before, during and after. Support needs to be 24/7, real-time, ensuring that travel managers have the ability to react immediately and appropriately as required.

Before travel

• Pre-trip reports – providing globally consolidated information on travel itineraries, particularly any booked to high risk destinations or out of policy.

• Travel alerts – keeping travelers and travel teams up-to-date with any potential disruptions or global events.

• Traveler profiles – key to any duty of care program is ensuring that traveler profiles are current, including emergency contact numbers or records of any health issues.

During travel

• Employee tracking system – tools that enable the travel or safety manager to understand where their travelers are at any one time, based on ticketed itineraries.

• In-house 24/7 services – not just for emergencies but to deliver support at any time of the day and night, be that changing itineraries or asking for advice when travel is delayed.

• Major emergency response management – should the worst scenario occur, having support from your travel management company in regards to emergency response teams and planning is a necessity so you can react quickly and efficiently.

Post-travel

• Post-trip reports – delivering visibility of trips planned vs trips undertaken, and any deviation from travel policy will enable you to further manage policy compliance or put in place stricter measures as required.

Conclusion

Duty of care and travel risk management may be engrained in some organisations policies and processes, whilst for others it seems like a daunting task to manage. Wherever your organisation is on this scale, ensure you engage with your travel management company – they can help with putting a duty of care plan together or ensuring the one you have in place remains best practice, including the latest travel tools. Key to a successful programme is having endorsement from senior management and ensuring clear, regular and relevant communication to all employees at every stage of their journey.

And yet American employers have been battening down for the Ebola pandemic possibly to come. Industrial health and safety experts have been recommending Ebola protective measures. Conferences on Ebola have been scheduled. Law firms have issued bulletins explicating the theoretical legal issues that might emerge were Ebola to infect American workplaces. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has even drawn criticism for not giving employers enough detailed guidance on preventing Ebola.

Meanwhile, where an actual Ebola pandemic rages in real time and endangers countless workers is West Africa, particularly Liberia, Sierra Leone and parts of Mali and Guinea. The World Health Organisation had declared Africa’s Ebola pandemic a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” The pandemic has killed well over 5,000 Africans with “more than 150 Liberian medical workers [having] died from Ebola.” (S. Fink, “Treating Those Treating Ebola in Liberia,” The New York Times, Nov. 6, 2014)

As of 2014, the most urgent real-world Ebola risk threatening the American workforce is in Africa—that is, the danger US-based staff face when traveling for work to West Africa. Think of researchers, journalists, consultants, medical relief workers, infrastructure development teams, government staff, government contractors, and American expatriates who happen to live and work where Ebola strikes.

And so the most practical Ebola question that employers should be asking about their American staff is: What is our liability risk as to our US-based employees and expatriates who contract Ebola while working overseas?

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Though duty of care has existed in common law for a long time, the application of duty of care laws to the corporate travel community is a relatively new trend. The laws hold that it is the obligation of a company to maintain reasonable care of its employee during the course and scope of his or her business travel. In the corporate travel sector, duty of care extends to the safety and security of a company’s mobile employees.

In days past, bottom-line cost was the main business driver behind the implementation of a travel policy. Cost control, not traveler security, was paramount. It was common to hear corporate travel managers ask, what is the expense in booking tickets from a non-preferred vendor? What is allowable in terms of hotel stays?However, as economic growth has spurred travel to emerging markets and unfamiliar places, the rules of the game are changing. Safety has now become just as powerful a driver as cost.

This policy shift has prompted travel managers to ask questions in a different way. For example, what is the danger in reserving a car for my employee with a non-preferred rental car company? Are rental cars that are used well-maintained and up to date? How safe is it for my employee to stay in a hotel that has not been vetted? What is the hotel’s security policy? Clearly, the language surrounding travel expectations is changing to reflect a growing desire to mitigate threats and lower costs, but also to protect a company’s greatest assets – its people.

Duty Of Care 101

In most cases, duty of care implies that the employer is legally liable if an employee travels for business and needs any kind of intervention or assistance. “A responsive travel policy that strongly emphasizes duty of care has several layers,” states Bruce McIndoe, CEO of iJET, an intelligence driven provider of operational risk management solutions headquartered in Annapolis, MD. “These layers address the financial protection of the company, an integrated risk management component that emphasizes prevention, and the clear communication of norms and expectations regarding travel for employees.”

The United Kingdom sparked international interest in duty of care when it passed the Corporate Manslaughter Act in 2007. The law establishes significant consequences for companies who intentionally or unintentionally put their employees in harm’s way without taking sufficient precautions. The sub-phrase, “without taking sufficient precautions,” is key. “In a court case, it is not enough for a company to plead ignorance – and it is this ‘should have known’ theme that drives the need for corporations to establish relationships with the corporate intelligence community,” according to Stephen Barth, founder of HospitalityLawyer.com in Houston,TX. HospitalityLawyer.com brings together legal, safety, security information, resources and solutions especially designed for the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. “Furthermore, many corporations wrongly believe they are ‘covered’ under workers compensation laws, not realizing the limitations of such laws in wrongful death situations or in damage limitations,” he continues.

The Language Of Liability

There is no doubt that in addition to cost and safety, liability is a major concern behind duty of care policy. A recent online article entitled “Corporate Travel Safety” describes the work of Dr. Lisbeth Claus, who is a professor of human resources at Willamette University and author of the Duty of Care and Travel Risk Management Global Benchmarking Study. Claus’ research found that of the 39 cases she reviewed “in which an employer was sued by an employee (or his survivors) over failure to provide duty of care, the employers lost 34.”

Liability issues often spur travel managers to think about how to frame duty of care. For example, suppose a business traveler in Sao Paulo needs cash immediately and goes to his nearest public ATM. While withdrawing money, he is robbed at gunpoint by masked men. If the traveler has not been clearly informed by company policy that a particular activity (in this 33 Business Travel Executive FEBRUARY 2013 case, the use of public ATM’s) is considered risky, and is discouraged or unacceptable, then the company has breached its duty of care to its employee. Had the traveler known not to use public ATM’s in Sao Paulo, he would have obtained cash in another way and not become a target for armed gunmen.

This is also known as the “duty to inform” – “a person engaged in a special and potentially dangerous activity must know or inquire of possible hazards or of any special duties and responsibilities inherent in that activity that might affect their ability to exercise reasonable prudent caution.” Thus, a travel manager must inform an employee of what is expected regarding actions to be taken (such as immunizations), potential hazards (e.g. diseases, armed robbery), and any prohibitions (such as using public ATM’s). Ideally, the employer would communicate areas where the employee must take responsibility.

To explain this further, iJET’s McIndoe offers the following real-world example: “In one instance, an employee, while on a business trip to Vietnam, went on a white water rafting trip. The trip was on a weekend, tacked on after the business workweek. During the rafting expedition the employee was injured, hospitalized and had to be flown back to the US on a commercial airliner, with costs totaling $22,000. The employee sued his company citing that he was never informed of the fact that his company policy did not cover him after formal business hours. Had he known, he would have taken out a personal insurance policy that covered him throughout the entire trip.”

Another principle revolves around the duty to warn, which is less broad than the duty to inform. “Duty to warn” indicates that “a party will be held liable for injuries caused to another, where the party had the opportunity to warn the other of a hazard and failed to do so.” Since the language of liability can get complicated, it may be wise for companies to consult with risk management providers such as iJET or seek legal counsel beforehand.

Plan, Protect And Respond

In a world of competing interests, strained budgets and constant demands on time, how do companies meet their duty of care obligations? First, they can look to existing laws. They can also seek out similarly situated businesses and evaluate what their standard of care is. “In the travel industry, we have begun to set benchmarks and best practices for what a reasonable prudent business, university or NGO would establish in regards to duty of care in their travel policies,” explains Barth. “For example, do these policies promote awareness, education and training? Are they pro-active or re-active in nature? Are they spending dollars just on insurance, or on any kind of prevention programs?”

 There are three levels of creating a duty of care travel policy:

• planning a policy that is specific to your company’s and travelers’ needs.

• protection clauses in the policy that inform, warn, track and/or protect travelers.

• response clauses including evacuation or other insurance services.

Planning is the first stage where corporate intelligence companies and comprehensive risk management providers can tailor a policy to suit a company’s size, scope and travel demands.

Protection clauses must then be analyzed to see what levels of services are appropriate. For example, is it enough for your employee to take a local taxi from the airport to the hotel? Or would it be more prudent for a vetted car service to pick up the passenger and drive to a (vetted) hotel? Are medical checkups required upon return from a foreign country? Other protective clauses such as “do not drink the local water in the city” or “only use bottled water” go a long way toward saving hours of lost productivity that would result from employees falling ill.

According to Barth, it is also reasonable to suggest general best practices for employees while traveling during the course of business, such as not wearing flashy jewelry which may warrant unwanted attention, or not to go out into certain sectors of the city at night time. Other specific best practices depend entirely on the threat level of the destination. In certain cities where crime is high, it may be recommended that employees going to dinner only venture out in groups of two or more. Or that they limit themselves to specific restaurants that have been vetted for food quality.

Response clauses define what measures are reasonable for a company to take on behalf of its employees to keep them safe. This includes a rapid response/evacuation plan that can react swiftly to an emergency. Other options are a comprehensive medical plan, an extraction policy, or a kidnap and ransom policy.

“Also, an employer may want to include traveler tracking as part of its response plan,” McIndoe says. Traveler tracking was highly successful during recent events such as the civil unrest that erupted during the Arab Spring, or the earthquake and subsequent nuclear fallout in Japan. “We recommend tracking for all travel, because a disruption can occur at any time…for example, a plane crash into the Hudson River in New York City or the bridge collapse in Minneapolis,” continues McIndoe. “How will you find and communicate to your travelers during these moments of crisis?”

Travel Ahead Of The Curve

In today’s fast-paced environment as corporations expand across an increasingly unpredictable planet, the workplace is not confined to one location anymore. Workforces and offices are mobile and travel is a necessary tool to get the job done. As language shifts in the industry to better capture a company’s travel needs, herein lies a golden opportunity for travel managers to incorporate strong duty of care policies and procedures intended to safeguard employees during the course of business travel.

At the end of the day, enforcing suggested duty of care best practices becomes imperative. Often times, corporate travel managers are faced with tough questions such as, “Is non-compliance punishable? If so, are employees who depart from company policy required to pay out-of-pocket for their non-compliance?”

Some travel programs encourage the creation of a “duty of loyalty” culture which rewards business travelers for booking through preferred vendors or avoiding potentially risky behavior during their business trip. Others advocate developing internal programming such as workshops, events and classes that teach the benefits of compliance with duty of care policies. This awareness and educational component empowers employees with the necessary knowledge required to manage travel expectations, and puts responsible decision – making back in their hands.