If your employees are traveling for business then it’s your responsibility to keep them safe. Reducing risks before travel is a great place to start and more companies are recognising the importance of this step.
This is where a risk assessment comes in; making it possible to identify and manage the potential risks before they happen. Not only does it show you and the traveler have done some form of due diligence, but also it can help travelers avoid risks all together.
If you’re set with the task of implementing a risk assessment and you need a simplified process, then this guide is here to help you.
A travel risk assessment is integral to achieving duty of care obligations. The goal of the risk assessment is to identify any threats that an employee could face whilst traveling. Travel risks are constantly changing and the assessment covers everything from missing a flight to a global pandemic.
The results of the assessment will form the policies and procedures that’ll be implemented to lower these risks, wherever possible. Passing on this knowledge to the employee is essential, it can prevent incidents happening and protect employees in critical situations.
Generally, when managing risk the two main factors to consider are likelihood/probability and impact/severity. When you as a business professional or a travel manager is considering all the individual elements that make up a complete travel risk assessment (e.g. transport method, sanitation, and so on) this judgment between probability and severity should be the basis of most decisions.
The challenge lies in knowing what risks you can tolerate due to their severity and the limitation of your control. At one end of the scale is something very severe like a violent political revolution. Even if it only falls into the probable section of the graph, then this would be something that is too impactful to tolerate, as you, either as a traveler or as a business owner, cannot mitigate the risk effectively.
On the other hand, say the risk is like stomach sickness as a result of different hygiene practices, the risk is very probable, but the impact (providing the traveler is healthy) is limited. This, combined with the fact you can put in place relatively effective counter-measures, means that this risk would normally be deemed acceptable.
Performing a travel risk assessment is key to protecting employees and your business whilst complying with the law. The assessment gives the opportunity to train employees on how to stay safe whilst traveling and what to do if something happens.
A well developed and communicated travel risk assessment will reassure the traveling employee: giving them the confidence to focus on their job with the peace of mind that they’ll know what to do if a situation arises. In turn, as a business you can trust that the employee and you travel manager are aware of potential threats, have set in policies to mitigate them, and you have a well informed employee out there - which is arguably the best defense against incidents.
We've made a risk assessment form for you to either print and give to your employees or as a checklist to use pre-travel. Get access to the