What Is Travel Risk Assessment and How To Perform It
Companies should prioritize risk assessment whenever they send employees to travel for business. The goal is to identify potential threats their professionals can face during the business trip. In this guide, you’ll learn how to perform risk assessment, its phases and its function in your company’s travel process.
What Is Travel Risk Assessment?
Risk assessment for business trips refers to the detailed analysis of potential situations, and risks employees could face along the way. This process forms the basis of a company’s risk management policy and how these policies should be applied. Managers also use risk assessment for operational planning, enabling your team to help business travelers maintain productivity and return home safely.
Why Is It Important?
Assessing potential risks is crucial for ensuring the health and safety of your team as they travel. They’re performing important tasks for your company as they work abroad, so you must ensure their productivity and safety.
The assessment process allows your team to identify specific risks in different areas. When it’s efficiently performed, your team can weigh the likelihood of certain events from happening. For instance, you can plan trips ahead of storm and hurricane seasons so your employees won’t have to deal with flight delays and other related problems.
Aside from estimating the potential impact of different risks, risk assessments also allow you to plan appropriate mitigating actions.
Three Phases of Risk Assessment
Different organizations should conduct a risk assessment for traveling employees systematically. It should also be a collaborative effort involving all stakeholders. Further, the assessment should also consider the views and knowledge of each participating staff member.
Travel risk assessment consists of three phases:
Identification
Analysis
Evaluation
Risk Identification
The first phase of risk assessment is the identification process. Next, your team looks for potential risks that can prevent your company from achieving business travel objectives. During this phase, you’ll determine and categorize risks as those that you can control and the ones that you can’t.
Risk Analysis
The next phase involves the analysis of the different risks that your team has identified. Several factors should be considered at this stage:
Effectiveness of potential controls you can implement.
How your current controls and policies will work.
The likelihood that certain events can occur.
The consequence of these events and their impact on employee travel.
The sources of the risks.
The uncertainties that may be involved when your team travels.
The effectiveness of your risk analysis will depend on the quality and accuracy of the information your team can gather. It is best to consult with travel risk specialists to get accurate and timely information as you plan mitigations to ensure your team’s safety.
Risk Evaluation
During this phase, your team will determine whether your current company travel policies sufficiently cover the risks you’re assessing. During the evaluation, your team can choose specific actions to mitigate risks:
Implement new risk treatments.
Return to analysis and thoroughly understand the risks.
Reconsider your business objectives.
Reschedule trips to avoid risks.
Do nothing since all travel policies have the risks covered.
When to Make These Assessments?
Risk assessments should ideally be performed around five weeks before employee travel, but they can be performed earlier. It should be scheduled earlier and in advance for more complicated trips. Longer trips also require more planning, as well as much earlier and more thorough risk assessments.
It’s crucial to perform these assessments for certain situations:
Last-Minute Travel: It’s imperative for your team to perform short risk assessments for last-minute travels, especially if employees are heading to new locations. Time is of the essence in these situations, so focus on major risks.
Domestic Travel: Local travel from one city to another generally doesn’t require any risk assessment. Your decision to conduct an assessment will rely on the nature of the work performed by your employees and the destination. In addition, it may be necessary to conduct assessments if employees will be traveling longer than a week or if they’re traveling to a location they’ve never been to.
Repeat Destinations: In most cases, you don’t need to learn how to complete a risk assessment if employees are traveling to repeat destinations. It’s likely that your team has already completed risk assessments for these locations previously. However, a risk assessment becomes necessary for employees traveling to these locations for the first time or when political, health, safety and other conditions have changed.
How To Perform Risk Assessment
The travel risk assessment process involves all three phases mentioned earlier. After identifying and assessing hazards, your team should implement specific controls and measures to ensure the safety of your employees.
It’s also a good idea to record any findings and review the policies and measures implemented after your employees have returned home. Risk assessment teams should also identify certain elements to be included in your risk assessment and determine ways to include these assessments in your travel process.
What Should Be Included in Your Risk Assessment
Risk assessment should include two major factors: the employee who will travel and the destination.
Employee Considerations
Each employee traveling for your company will have unique needs and travel habits. Therefore, your team must understand these factors during travel risk assessment.
Employee Health: Is the person fit to travel? It’s recommended to consider their medical needs and health conditions. For instance, some employees may be allergic to certain foods that could be served in the city or country they’re traveling to, so try to plan their meals and ensure they have all the medications they need for the trip.
Travel Gender: Female travelers have a unique risk profile and are more at risk when they travel alone. One survey shows that 72 percent of women feel at a higher risk for assault and harassment during business trips. LGBT travelers are also at an increased risk when traveling to certain countries. Your team should consider these factors before sending your staff abroad and plan trips accordingly.
Travel Patterns: Examine all itineraries before sending employees off on a business trip. One way to mitigate risks is to allow them sufficient time to rest before continuing their journey. For instance, it may not be wise to allow employees to drive a rental car after going on an overnight flight. Book rooms in nearby hotels in advance, allowing them to prepare for the next phase of the trip or before meeting clients.
Employees should be briefed before the trip to help reduce risks. Give employees time and opportunities to disclose any health or other conditions affecting their travel.
2. Destination
Environmental considerations should be covered during the risk analysis and evaluation phases of your assessment process. During these stages, determine the available transportation, political situation, health risks, crime rates, accommodations and climate. Make all the necessary arrangements beforehand and plan accordingly.
How To Include the Travel Risk Assessment Into Your Travel Process
Businesses should integrate travel risk assessment into their company policies. This includes checking for travel bans, restrictions and other factors that make travel difficult. Travel policies should also allow your team to establish mitigation measures and employee travel training.
How To Complete a Risk Assessment
At the completion of your risk assessment proceedings, you should educate your employees regarding their upcoming travel. Your team should also identify which policies and procedures were effective and how your travel process can be improved. It will also be helpful to consult with specialists to help you identify specific areas you may have missed during your assessment.
CI Azumano Business Travel is a corporate travel specialist with many years of industry experience. Our seasoned expert advisors use market-leading technology to help you perform effective travel risk assessments. Contact us today, and our specialists will be happy to answer your questions.