From trade fairs to conferences, from white papers to press articlesthe notion of duty of care has been the focus of much attention for some years now. However, the transition from theory to practice is proving laborious... According to a study published by International SOSthe travel policies are still too often neglecting aspects relating to security. For example, certain populations that are more exposed to specific threats are not covered by measures that may nevertheless be necessary depending on the destination: a quarter of companies (26 %) have implemented measures concerning business travellersand considerations relating to travellers LGBTQ are covered by only 9 % of travel insurance policies. As for employees with disabilities or health problems mental healthHowever, travel policies only take this parameter into account in 10 % and 11 % of cases.
Assessing the health and safety of travellers must take account of the individual
However, as Dr Doug Quarry, Medical Director of International SOS, points out Assessing the health and safety of travellers must take account of the individual. It's not just about the destination: the traveller's personal profile, including their gender, age, sexual orientation and mental health, can change the risks to which they will be exposed. ". Another finding of the study is that cyber security is still largely "forgotten" in business travel management, with one third (33%) of travel policies covering this sensitive issue.
These shortcomings in travel programmes are all the more worrying given that many companies are counting on an increasingly anxiety-provoking environment. Indeed, 43% of those surveyed expect travel-related risks to increase in 2019. It should be noted, however, that the trend was more marked in the previous study: last year, 52 % of those questioned feared that the risk would increase in 2018.
