Companies must up game as business travel raises new risks and assessment challenges

Many companies will need to up their game to deliver duty of care as the expected return to business travel later this year creates new risks and requires more in-depth risk assessment, according to experts. The uncertain development of the Covid-19 crisis presents huge challenges for going on business trips in 2021, according to German insurer HDI Global. In some countries, infections are falling, while in other regions mutated viruses are undergoing a rapid spread. This makes travel planning extremely challenging, it said. “Covid-19 has exerted a profound change in behaviour on corporate travel,” according to Christoph Schulz, head of group personal accident at HDI Global. “The safety requirements of travelling employees have increased noticeably and the employer's duty of care is much more important than before the pandemic. Therefore, now is the right time to establish an internal travel management system or to intensively review existing processes,” he said. HDI warned that business travellers risk catching infections while travelling, at their hotel, when meeting customers and during leisure time. They also face the risk of unwanted periods of quarantine delays from incorrect documents. “A significantly underestimated risk is represented by quarantines after contact with a person who tested positive for Covid-19, either already on the aircraft or shortly after arriving in the destination country. A business trip scheduled to take three days quickly turns into a compulsory two-week quarantine stay for the contact persons,” HDI said. Companies are increasingly approaching insurers as they consider the prospect of resuming business travel later this year, according to Jessian Randall, accident and health underwriter at AXA XL in London. He said enquiries about business travel are at an unprecedented level. According to Mr Randall, companies are asking two key questions: How can they ensure employees are safe when away for business, and will their insurance respond to coronavirus risks? The answer to the latter questions is yes. As a rule, insurers continue to provide Covid-19 medical and repatriation cover under business travel policies, he said. “Will insurance respond to Covid-19? If the employee is fit to travel, the insurance policy should respond to Covid-19 medical incidents and repatriation. The corporate business travel insurance policy is still there should anything go wrong,” said Mr Randall. Many companies will need to up their game when it comes to travel risk management going forward, however. In the past, business travel risk assessments have tended to focus on physical risks, namely terrorism, rather than infectious diseases, Mr Randall explained. In addition, many companies haven’t made full use of risk management tools and services of specialist assistance companies, he said. “We would encourage companies to engage with insurers and assistance companies, and to think about the associated risks of Covid-19 for business travel. Business travel risk will be more difficult, but how businesses approach this will be critical to the safety of employees. If risks are not properly assessed and information not provided to employees, there could be potential liability issues and wider implications,” said Mr Randall. “There are tools and services available. It's all there and many insurers will provide customers with access to specialist consultants that will assess risks and make more informed decisions,” he continued. AXA XL, for example, offers a number of services through its partnership with travel risk assistance company Healix International. The insurer’s Protect and Assist policy provides travel risk policy assessments and a guide to best practice encompassing medical, security and wellbeing, Mr Randall explained. Business travel has continued in sectors such as manufacturing, oil and gas, offshore, media and entertainment, and sports throughout the pandemic. In some locations, it may pick up as the Covid-19 situation stabilises and vaccination rollouts begin, said Charline Gerlin, security director at business travel consulting and assistance firm International SOS. “Organisations will carefully need to consider all the health and security risks that their employees may face, and avoid Covid-19 myopia. There are also potential mental health impacts of the new stresses of travel to consider, especially with travel restrictions, quarantining and increased exposure affecting many locations,” Ms Gerlin said. In some locations, International SOS is advising that all travel should be deferred. While for others, it said essential travel can resume after undertaking an individual risk assessment of the Covid-19 situation and entry restrictions, including the potential for sudden changes. However, considerations including travel restrictions, entry requirements such as Covid-19 testing, Covid-19 vaccination certification and quarantine measures, now all significantly impact the travellers experience, it added. International SOS is also seeing organisations asking for more support for both domestic and international travel. “Some of these requests have become more complex throughout the pandemic. For every trip, travellers need five times more assistance support and we are receiving ten times as many enquiries from managers for advice on protecting their employees,” said International SOS regional medical director, Mark Parrish. “During the pandemic, we have seen organisations’ willingness to engage and invest in employee health and wellbeing only increase. As a result, International SOS has seen a significant increase in cases to request security and health assistance and advice, for both the medical and security risks their employees may face,” Mr Parrish added. Covid-19 is likely to make assessing business travel risk much harder than in the past, according to Mr Randall. “Companies need to assess the health risks of the individual, the location they are travelling to, and the medical facilities and hospital capacity in that country. They would also need to understand local requirements should an employee become infected and how they would carry out repatriation, which is likely to be more expensive and complicated under Covid-19,” he said. Risks will vary by country, continued Mr Randall. “Travel within Europe, where health systems are more robust and the associated risks and costs would be lower, might be more palatable. But more remote locations and those with less-developed health systems could be challenging to support employees and get them home in an emergency,” he said. Another consideration when assessing travel risk is restrictions within home countries. For example, the UK recently announced it would introduce a travel declaration form that would require travellers to justify trips abroad in writing. However, essential travel is not defined by governments and neither is it typically defined in corporate business travel insurance policies, said Mr Randall. Companies considering business travel face a number of considerations, according to International SOS. These include testing, quarantine and vaccination requirements. In addition to assessing whether employees are ‘Covid-fit’, companies will need to consider all potential medical issues because some countries’ health systems continue to be more widely impacted by Covid-19, according to Mr Parrish. “If you are travelling somewhere, it is crucial that you are updated on the latest Covid-19 information as entry, testing and quarantine requirements are constantly changing. It is also important to consider how you are intending to travel there – via another country, quarantine etc – as many flight routes are currently limited. Movements take longer to plan because of a combination of lack of aircraft and increased requirements for approvals before travelling,” he said.

Companies must up game as business travel raises new risks and assessment challenges

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