By Dawn Hemmings
When travelling abroad for work companies still have a duty of care to ensure their employees are kept safe, protected and to ensure they are prepared for the trip ahead.
However, research shows that only two thirds of companies have policies in place to ensure employees are safe while travelling abroad. The areas that need to be considered before an employee is sent on a trip overseas are: insurance, healthcare (including vaccinations) and checking the visiting country’s current situation.
The first priority is to ensure that in the event of an emergency employees know how to access emergency medical care, this generally is in the form of an emergency contact number or if in Europe the European Health Insurance Card.
The second priority is to check the visiting countries current situation to ensure there is no political unrest. The government has a lot of information about current affairs and you can sign up for email alerts for current statuses. Things to look out for are recent terrorist attacks, high risk of kidnapping to tourists, disease outbreaks such as Ebola, etc.
The third priority is ensuing the company has adequate insurance to cover their employees when travelling abroad. The majority of insurance companies have emergency helpline numbers that employers can call in the event of any emergency – even if it is just that you have lost your luggage.
Women travelling abroad for work are at a higher risk than men and there are some places that can still be very uncomfortable for women so companies need to do more to protect women travelling. So, what are the additional challenges for women that come from travelling abroad?
What policies or procedures do you company have in place for travelling abroad?
As a woman travelling abroad what challenges have you faced? What advice would you give?
Dawn Hemmings is head of occupational health and safety at Bentley Motors Ltd
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