Companies advised to risk-assess business travel and supply chains as coronavirus spreads

Risk managers are being advised to risk-assess business travel and prepare for increased staff absenteeism as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to rise. Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of ‘new’ coronavirus, also called 2019-nCov, a “public health emergency of international concern”. It urged all countries to take steps to prevent the onward spread of infection. On Tuesday, Hong Kong reported its first death from the virus, the second outside China, while the UK government advised its citizens in China to leave the country. “With the WHO declaring the coronavirus outbreak a health emergency, it’s important that businesses, and risk managers in particular, take the appropriate steps to support and protect employees,” said Dr Simon Worrell, global medical director at Collinson, the medical, security and travel risk management services company. “The first priority must be staff. They need reliable sources of advice and strong communication from the business on any infectious-disease plan currently in place to protect them. If there is no such plan, one should be created and implemented immediately, and be regularly appraised,” he added. From a multinational business perspective, it is important to understand where all employees are, who they will come into contact with and where they might be travelling to in the future, said Dr Worrell. “This is particularly important if you have employees in affected countries and also those that may shortly become involved with the outbreak. This level of understanding needs to extend to the supply chain – risk managers should understand how suppliers may impact their business,” he said. One key consideration for companies is travel, especially for those with customers or suppliers in Asia. It emerged last week that a worker at car-part manufacturer Webasto caught coronavirus in Germany from a visiting Chinese colleague. There were 28 confirmed cases in Europe as of 6 February and more than 25,000 cases in China. Risk managers should consider how to deal with overseas travel, especially to Asia, and visits from overseas visitors, particularly from affected countries, according to a risk manager at a charitable health foundation and senior member of the Institute of Risk Management (IRM), who asked to remain anonymous. This might require risk assessment meetings and conferences with higher-risk visitors, such as those from China, they said. Another IRM member and risk manager in the healthcare sector advised risk managers to monitor sickness levels more closely and be alert to illnesses occurring at work, especially if there are known contacts with China. Other advisable measures include giving regular travel advice updates to staff, encouraging good hygiene practice and enabling people to work from home where possible. “I would suggest appointing a lead to monitor the situation, review mitigation actions/contingency plans and provide regular reports to the board,” the senior IRM member said. In terms of practical advice for risk managers, Julia Graham, Airmic deputy CEO and technical director,suggested businesses should look at the virus through an enterprise risk lens. “This is a team activity and a situation that demands cross-function collaboration,” she told CRE. “Crisis management plans and teams should be polished and communication lines checked and rehearsed. Be ready to talk to employees and customers. Share that you are prepared and if you’re not, then shape up,” she said. “Assess who you are responsible for, where people are and what can be done to keep them safe. Follow government travel advice. Failure to do so can limit the effectiveness of insurance. And where possible, use technology rather than travel, or encourage people to work from home,” Ms Graham added. One risk manager told CRE they have linked their response to the WHO’s six phases of influenza pandemic and the four-level UK alert system. This anticipates responding to increased absenteeism should the infection spread within the UK and potential building shutdown in response to school closures, travel disruption and people unwilling, or too ill, to come in to work. “We have plans in place to close the building with skeleton staff, or even with no staff,” they said. Another IRM member advised companies to review their contingency plans for sustained staff shortages in the event of a major outbreak and disruption to overseas travel that impacts critical business activities. “Bear in mind that staff with caring responsibilities may be impacted and unable to come to work even if they don’t get the virus, for example in the event of schools being closed and close-family illnesses,” they said. While the virus has currently spread to 23 countries – including the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Finland and Sweden – its impact is expected to be more limited than in China. “When we consider the risk profile for businesses in the UK, for example, it’s unlikely that the virus will have the same effect as in China. With knowledge about the virus already widespread, any cases would likely be self-quarantined and public behaviour would limit the spread,” said Dr Worrell. When assessing the virus’s risk profile and planning a proportionate response, risk managers should consider the biological risk of infection, ease of transmission, the population’s scientific sophistication and impact on the originating country. For example, some countries do not have the tools and resources to assess whether they have people with the virus, let alone the ability to effectively respond, according to Ms Graham. Ebola has a high biological risk, being deadly in most cases, but is relatively difficult to transmit. It is most commonly geographically based in economically disadvantaged countries with poor infrastructure, where the population has limited understanding of disease prevention, explained Dr Worrell. “But ebola has a very different risk profile to coronavirus, which has a much milder biological risk, but is much more easily transmitted. Equally, the coronavirus outbreak began in a society with a stable infrastructure, with the population possessing a stronger understanding of disease prevention, who can easily travel to all parts of the country and the world at large,” he said.

Companies advised to risk-assess business travel and supply chains as coronavirus spreads

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