More than three quarters (79 per cent) of travel buyers have reviewed their traveller risk strategies in the last 12 months to ensure they provide greater duty of care.
The new research results are from a survey commissioned by the Business Travel Show, which quizzed 178 European buyers about their risk management policies.
In the last 12 months, fewer buyers say they see duty of care as part of their role (83 per cent compared to 91 per cent), yet more organisations have a traveller risk strategy in place 77 per cent vs 70 per cent). Only 8 per cent do not have a strategy in place, down from 17 per cent in 2016.
One fifth of buyers who responded have reviewed their strategies with specialist risk management companies (21 per cent) or their TMC (20 per cent) in the last year; 37 per cent carried out an internal review and 1 per cent even undertook scenario training.
Commenting on the low number of companies undertaking scenario training, Matthew Harding, former British Army officer and chairman, Drum Cussac Group, commented: “Many organisations recognise that preparing people for crisis through briefing, training and practise drills can have a significantly positive impact on the outcome of risky situations and, for travellers going to really challenging environments, there is no substitute for proper face to face, scenario based training.”
Harding is hosting a panel session at the show alongside PwC’s Global Head of Travel Risk, Philip Stewart: ‘Safety and security – a best practice guide for beginners’.
“While road traffic incidents and health events remain the most prevalent threats to business travellers, we cannot ignore the changing world security situation surrounding civil unrest and extremist terrorism, particularly the evolution of lone-wolf terrorist attacks. The continuous march towards a global economy means that more business people than ever before are travelling or working remotely and there is significant pressure on organisations to ensure the safety and security of their staff and assets as they go about their business,” added Harding.
“Our session will look at the fundamentals of travel risk management and providing learning entry points for organisations irrespective of the maturity of their security model. We will examine the building blocks of sound preparation, robust protection, effective response and efficient recovery from disruptive events.”
| Do you see the duty of care of your travellers as part of your role? | 2016 | 2017 |
| Yes | 91 | 83 |
| No | 9 | 17 |
| Does your organisation have a strategy for mitigating, managing and resolving traveller risk? | 2016 | 2017 |
| Yes, we manage it internally | 70 | 36 |
| Yes, we work with our TMC to ensure our programme is responsible | 20 | |
| Yes, we work with a travel risk management company to ensure our programme is responsible | 21 | |
| No | 17 | 8 |
| No but we are planning to | 13 | 15 |
| What steps have you taken over the last 12 months to ensure greater duty of care? | 2016 | 2017 |
| Reviewed internal processes | – | 37 |
| Reviewed with TMC | – | 20 |
| Reviewed with travel risk management company | – | 21 |
| Undertaken scenario training | – | 1 |
| None | – | 21 |
