Duty of Care and Travel Risk Management

Companies with multinational operations and those with employees who travel across borders are increasingly concerned about managing risk to their travelers, expatriates, and assignees. When employers fail to comply with their duty of care obligations, the following situations can occur:

• While working overseas, an employee gets sick and does not have access to adequate medical treatment 

• During a natural disaster, a company realizes that it does not have sustainable business continuity plans, employees cannot be evacuated easily and face unnecessary hardship 

• A remote satellite office in an unstable country does not have a custom evacuation program for its employees. A coup d'etat occurs and infighting threatens the civilian population. Employees in the country face a high security threat and the company has great difficulty providing advice and assistance. 

•  An employee travels to a country where malaria is endemic. She is not given prophylaxis or education on malaria by her employer. She contracts the disease and gets very sick.

These incidences were all avoidable. Unfortunately, the employers were not prepared and faced needless litigation, damaged reputation and interruptions to their operations. Learn more about duty of care obligations, how to mitigate risk, and how to raise awareness with your internal stakeholders through new research and insight.