The company faced with the risks of business or expatriate travel: prevention and action
We are all aware of the new or the increasing risks, both health and safety, that corporate and expatriate travelers and their families are facing with increasing frequency.
The challenge of the company for which they travel is becoming ever greater and more complex. In addition, there are some legal obligations to fulfill, apart from the moral duty and even the desire to convey to your employees that your company makes the maximum effort to ensure their safety while traveling.
At the same time, the aim is to maximize the investment that the company makes by bearing the cost of travel or expatriation, trying to avoid or minimize as much as possible the loss of working hours.
In this field, in Spain, we have to learn a lot about practices that are already widespread in the company and are common in other countries.
The action in three lines: before, during and after the trip must be part of the same risk control policy. It is important to have the health, security and travel assistance response brought together in a single point of operations and management.
With a good pre-trip plan (contingency plan), both the traveler and the company's management staff will be able to plan and face the trip with the maximum knowledge of the level of medical or security risk they may face, and how to manage it in the event of an incident.
If a good action plan has been prepared, both the company and the traveler will know perfectly well the steps to follow and the actions to be taken in a clear and concise manner if any incident occurs during the course of the trip. In this way, each party and person involved will know perfectly what their role is and what specific action should be taken at any given moment.
The post-trip plan will help to eliminate or reduce the residual effects of the incident, and perhaps reduce or control the possible costs arising from it. If the company and employee have acted adequately following what was initially a well-developed action plan, the incident will serve as an example and reassurance to other travelers.
The response in any of these aspects, which may be intertwined with each other for certain incidents, must be immediate and efficient to the maximum, from the moment the traveler or expatriate communicates his emergency until it is attended to. If from the first contact the person is already attended by specialized personnel and in his own language, the times are substantially shortened and the employee on the trip will have a great peace of mind.
Finally, the company must ensure that there is a good harmony, balance and synchronization between insurance / final assistance services / tools at their disposal.