You want to keep employees safe, which is why a business travel risk assessment is essential.
From severe weather to viral outbreaks, a travel risk assessment takes all potential disruptors into account to keep traveling employees safe. It’s a vital part of corporate travel management that not only protects employees’ wellness, but also ensures your organization fulfills its duty of care requirements.
In this guide, we’ll break down how to conduct a domestic or international travel risk assessment. Discover how to identify and mitigate risks using travel risk assessment software and other digital tools.
A risk assessment identifies potential issues, both big and small, that a business traveler might face on a trip. These include health-related risks like food poisoning and disease outbreaks, travel delays and flight cancellations, and safety threats such as natural disasters, crime, and geopolitical uncertainty. Because travel risks are always changing, it’s important to conduct a fresh assessment for each trip, which automated risk assessment software makes more efficient.
Potential threats are entered into a travel risk assessment form for analysis, awareness, and mitigation strategies.
The purpose of a travel risk assessment is to create personalized policies and procedures to reduce the risk of harm and meet your duty of care obligations. Employees should be informed of any potential health and safety risks during planning to develop defensive strategies.
Business travel risks fall into several categories, all of which should be considered in a comprehensive travel risk assessment form.
One of the most common risks to employee wellbeing is illness. While pandemics make the news, food poisoning, unsafe tap water, and exposure to local viruses are more likely to derail travel plans. Medical emergencies should factor into any risk assessment for travel abroad.
Business travelers may encounter severe weather events and natural disasters. Some come with no warning, like earthquakes, whereas others, like hurricanes, give time to prepare in the short-term forecast. To assess this risk, organizations should consider the destination and time of year when planning travel. For example, popular business travel destinations like Tokyo and Los Angeles are positioned in the Pacific region’s Ring of Fire. They sit on fault lines, making earthquakes a higher statistical probability.
When working outside of the protected office space, your employees become more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Phishing, hacking, malware, and social engineering are all common cybersecurity threats to business travelers. Criminals target employees at airports and hotels with scams designed to illegally access sensitive data.
It’s not just online crime that can compromise business traveler security. There’s also the risk of theft and petty crime at the destination. When assessing travel risk, be sure to look at local crime rates, particularly when choosing a hotel. You can drastically reduce the risk of crime by using platforms like Tripeden.com for Business to choose accommodations in safe, low-crime neighborhoods.
In a volatile world, everything from protests to terrorist attacks can impact your business travelers, putting them in potential danger. Travel managers should keep an eye on geopolitical conflicts and incorporate news updates into a corporate risk assessment.
Growing anti-tourism protests in countries like Spain and Greece can also cause delays for business travelers, while a lack of cultural knowledge may cause offense and lead to a negative or even hostile reception from locals. Make sure employees are aware of corporate etiquette and local customs and dress appropriately (e.g. modestly in locations like the Middle East).
A unique travel threat assessment isn’t necessary for every trip. If your employees are visiting colleagues in a nearby town, it probably won’t require a full risk assessment.
However, corporate travel risk assessment is recommended for international destinations, unfamiliar regions, or complex itineraries. Once you’ve created a basic travel risk assessment form, you can adjust the details to suit the specificities of each new destination. This might include local laws, crime rates, cybersecurity threats, and climate.
Duty of care for employees is a legal requirement in many countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, and others. This means assessing travel risk isn’t just important for employees’ wellbeing – it’s also the law.
By performing a travel threat assessment, you can ensure that employees receive the location-specific training they need to stay safe at their destination. Together with a well written travel policy, this outlines who to contact if something happens. It makes risks more predictable so you can protect your employees as well as your business. Preparation is the best defense.
A corporate travel risk assessment form breaks down all the potential risks a traveler might encounter during their work trip. These can be divided into two categories.
Of course, many of these factors are personal and disclosed voluntarily. Consider giving a pre-travel survey for employees to fill out at their own discretion.
Each risk type can then be scored in order of likelihood to prioritize safety training and awareness. For example, while tornados are a potential risk in the south of England, they’re far less likely than in the American Midwest.
Business travel risks are constantly evolving, making it difficult for travel managers to identify every potential threat. This is where corporate risk management software can help by organizing information in a clear, automated way. The best platforms offer benefits like:
Here are a few examples of risk assessment software solutions for business travel.
Specializing in medical and travel security, International SOS offers a variety of apps for businesses to improve risk assessment and mitigation. This includes an app with real-time travel alerts to keep your team updated on any emerging threats, as well as pre-departure online training modules. Plus, International SOS is one of Tripeden.com for Business’s partners (for a full rundown of all of our partner integrations, check out our marketplace).
Crisis24 uses AI-powered threat detection technology to provide comprehensive real-time risk intelligence for business travelers. You can sign up to receive detailed assessments for over 200 countries and 400 cities worldwide that include granular detail through multiple threat categories.
This global company specializes in corporate travel risk management, from assessment to recovery. Pre-travel advisories equip business travelers and managers with safety knowledge. Commercial offerings include tools like CAP Advantage, a travel risk intelligence platform that comes with a one-touch emergency assistance button.
Together with your company travel policy, a corporate travel risk assessment should include all the relevant details employees need to travel safely. Start by identifying potential risks, then outline the level of risk and concrete steps to mitigate it.
Start by listing all potential risks, both environmental and individual, that could impact the traveler on a specific trip. While it’s common to think about major situations like terrorism and political unrest, it’s more likely that your team members will encounter risks like petty theft and food poisoning.
For each destination, use risk assessment software or do your own research to answer questions that include the following:
Individual risks should also be listed, including employee-provided details about health conditions, mobility issues, and allergies. Consider identity-related risks that could impact travelers. For example, in some countries, solo female corporate travelers could be at higher risk of theft and assault. Are same-sex relationships legal? Are there other cultural tensions to be aware of?
Once you’ve listed all risks, it’s time to use a risk assessment matrix to determine how severe each issue could be. Something like a military coup or high terrorism threat would fall into the severe category, while the risk of insect bites would be fairly low.
A primary goal of a corporate travel risk assessment is to empower business travelers. Practical, actionable strategies should accompany each risk so that employees know what to do and who to contact. Emergency contact details should also be listed in your company’s travel policy. Follow up with training sessions, where appropriate.
With the help of risk assessment software and templates, there’s no need for specific qualifications. However, ongoing risk management training is always useful in an organization.
While risk assessment forms can follow any structure, here’s an example of the sections that should be included.
Business travel risk assessment example:
Destination: Denver, Colorado
Hazard: Animal bite
Risk: Injury or allergic reaction
Likelihood: Low
Action:
Destination: Medellin, Colombia
Hazard: Weather conditions
Risk: Heat stroke
Likelihood: Medium
Action:
Destination: Paris, France
Hazard: Preexisting personal health condition
Risk: Getting sick while traveling
Likelihood: Medium
Action:
Regardless of specific threats, your organization can equip traveling employees for a safer experience with general safety tips.
While it’s impossible to eliminate all risks from business travel, performing a detailed risk assessment before each trip keeps threats under control.
With Tripeden.com for Business, you can have full visibility over employee bookings. Not only can you compare business hotels to choose accommodations in safer areas, but this travel management platform also comes with built-in travel locator tool, Traxo. It lets you view movements in real-time and provide support every step of the way.
Travel risk management is an important element to keep in mind and learn to navigate.
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