Most businesses have made it common to send their employees overseas. It could be a fast trip to Berlin on a conference or even a month assignment in Jakarta, we do not really take international travelling seriously and just see it as a move to pop down to Birmingham to hold a meeting. The risks are quite different though, and there are too many companies flying blind.
The reason why most companies miss this.
Honestly speaking, the majority of the businesses take a cheque-box approach to travel safety. They purchase travel insurance, perhaps mail out a round email with some contact number of the embassy, and that is it. That’s not good enough.
The thing is that people are ignorant about what they are not aware of. The marketing director travelling to Sao Paulo has likely never considered how to react to an aggressive police stop, or what to do in case demonstrations break out outside their hotel. Why would they? It is not included as their job description.
However, this is what occurs, they land, they are tired of the flight, they are a bit lost and all of a sudden they are exposed in a vulnerability they never feel at home. And that is when things come out of hand.
What What makes Travellers at Risk.
Take out of consideration the Hollywood scenarios. The vast majority of business travellers are not fleeing the bullets in war zones. The real risks include things such as:
Having your laptop stolen in a cafe when you go to the loo. Becoming the victim of a taxi scam in an airport. Being spiked in the hotel bar. Being sucked into civil strife that was not expected. Winding up terribly sick without the slightest conception of how the medical care system of the place functions.
When women travel alone, they experience harassment which their male counterparts do not usually feel. LGBTQ+ employees may be travelling to a place where just being themselves may land them in the court. The aged workers or the workers with health conditions require different considerations.
None of that is impossible. However, you must prepare people, as opposed to wishing things.
The appearance of Proper Training.
Travel safety training is not three hours in front of your staff members with someone reading PowerPoint slides. It is realistic, concrete, and practical.
You would like to be trained on how to research a destination correctly – not only on the tourist part of it, but the real security state of things. The planning of your route by the airport. Some neighbourhoods to shun. What is the political situation today.
It must train situational awareness – the sixth sense that something wrong is going on. How to read a crowd. When to make yourself scarce. How to fit in instead of being a conspicuous object.
The medical side matters too. What are your vaccinations? What’s safe to eat and drink? Where do we find the good hospitals? How well are you covered by your insurance?
And then there is crisis management piece. What would you do in case of a terrorist attack, a natural disaster or political turmoil? What is your contact number to your company? Which time is best when you are trying to get to the airport or remain in one place?
Practical Experience Wins Over Theory Time and Time Again.
The training that is actually internalised is the one whereby the people go through real scenarios. You are at a roadblock and the policemen are insisting on money. What do you say? You are approached by a stranger who asks you some strange questions in the lobby of your hotel. How do you handle it? Something makes your taxi driver feel like his route is not right. What’s your move?
It is initially hard to include these scenarios in a performance but it is much better to rehearse them in a training room than to go frozen when they happen. Individuals who have undergone such training indicate that they end up feeling much more confident when travelling – and their confidence can be what makes the difference in dealing with a situation successfully and unsuccessfully.
It is Not Only about Dangerous Destinations.
Companies usually assume that only personnel going to the high-risk countries need travel safety training. That’s daft. Business travellers are victims even in cities that are considered to be safe.
The problem of pick pockets among tourists and business visitors is massive in Paris. There are places in New York, which you do not want to walk into at night. London also has its security threats that are familiar to the locals but foreigners are not aware of them.
And large-scale events – terrorist attacks, demonstrations, natural catastrophes – may take place anywhere. Your employees must understand how to react anywhere they are.
The Duty of Care Question
The employment law in the UK is simple: you owe a duty of care to your employees. That does not end as they take off the plane.
Provided you send somebody overseas and something occurs due to your failure to properly evaluate the dangers or equip them accordingly, you are liable. It is not only because of the possible lawsuits – they exist. It is doing right by the individuals who are employed by you.
Risk assessments in fact are aided by good travel safety training. As soon as employees see what might go wrong, they can raise the concerns before their travel and can assist you in planning.
To make it work in your business.
Travel safety education does not have to be complex and costly. Trainers can be invited in-house on a day session basis. You are able to conduct team webinars that include those who are located in other offices. Other businesses conduct yearly refresher courses to remind them.
What matters is the quality. The instructor must be an expert in his/her area – preferably not a person who has read a manual. The content should be applicable where your people are generally going. And it must be interesting enough that individuals will listen and retain.
When It Actually Matters
Any training is tested by the use of the training. And there are no end of instances when the right preparation has proved to be all the difference.
This is the reason why one of the journalists who had gone through hostile environment training remarked that it saved his life when he went to film in Cairo and things got out of hand. When a woman went off on a cycling journey taking her to South Africa she was opening her eyes to risks she had not even contemplated. Employees in other organisations have attributed their training to the fact that they have learned to cope with any situation including medical emergencies and even being arrested by the police.
It is not melodramatic and melodramatic. It is nothing more than a fact that when you are informed about what you are doing, you make better choices and you are safer.
Stop Putting It Off
The majority of the companies are aware that they ought to be doing better regarding travel safety. Yet it continues to be pushed on the backburner since nothing has gone wrong as yet. That’s backwards thinking.
You do not wait till a fire catches you off guard and consider how to be fire safe. You do not wait till someone gets injured before undertaking health and safety training. Then why do you have to wait to have a travel incidence before you train your staff appropriately?
Sort it now. Get proper training in place. Ensure that you are making comprehensive risk assessments. Provide your people with both knowledge and confidence to travel safely.
Since when one is stuck in a tricky situation in a foreign country, that is not the moment to regret that you should have acted in a different way.