The crises of recent years have also repeatedly presented business travelers with challenges: From pandemics to severe weather events and natural disasters to wars. Companies should therefore always keep an eye on the safety of their employees when traveling. What preventative measures can be taken and how can employees be supported in an emergency?
Sound out risk areas
Countries and areas with risk situations and so-called crisis areas pose a particular problem. In some places, for example, there is an increased risk of terrorist attacks. If these areas cannot be avoided, risk maps should at least be consulted, which list the most common risks in the destination region.
Obtain information
Before the business trip, the most reliable information possible on local risks should be obtained and evaluated; for health protection, for example, from the tropical institutes (vaccination recommendations, etc.).
Get advice from the Foreign Office
The website of the Foreign Office is also a valuable source of information. In particular, it contains travel advice and travel warnings. For example, are there any threats of kidnapping, armed conflicts or natural disasters in the destination area? You should find out all this before you or your employees travel.
Train employees
Make your traveling employees aware of the issue. For example, offer information events, special training courses on travel safety or behavioral training for emergencies. Also appoint a person in the company who will be available as a contact person for traveling colleagues in the event of an emergency. Ideally, you should set up a crisis management system and an emergency plan if you frequently have to send employees to particularly dangerous regions.
Register for crisis preventions
It is also helpful to register for crisis prevention, which is possible in some states. Your embassy in the destination country is informed about the trip in advance by means of online registration. In an emergency, the embassy can then provide assistance more quickly.
Security services and insurance
Especially when traveling to particularly dangerous areas, it can be helpful to seek support from an international security company. In addition to in-depth information on the security situation, these companies often offer personal protection and emergency services in crisis areas and can be contacted via emergency numbers.
Don't forget the insurance cover either. Here, however, it is important to take a close look at the conditions. Some international health insurance policies, for example, only cover private trips but not business trips, have low cover amounts, restrictions on the duration of the trip or provide for a wide range of benefit exclusions (e.g. for certain regions).
Also pay attention to the availability of the insurance company: Is there a 24/7 emergency number, for example?
If you take the above points into account, you have already done a lot in terms of prevention and protection for your employees and can look forward to your next business trip well prepared.
.