Travel risk centre stage as Anra helps develop new ISO standard

The Covid-19 outbreak has brought into the limelight the issue of business travel risks, a subject that was previously under the radar of Italian enterprises. The country’s economy is strongly export-oriented and this demands frequent foreign trips and stays by employees, both with commercial and technical functions. Despite this, the risks arising from business travel have not really been taken seriously by companies until recently, partly driven by a greater degree of responsibility arising from a ‘duty of care’ regulation adopted by the country. Italian risk management association Anra and travel risk experts agreed that the new regulation was a step forward in corporate culture because it demands that companies must classify the health and safety of workers as corporate governance matters on an equal footing with market or financial risks. Partly because of this and the rise of the pandemic, the subject of employee safety has raced into pole position, pushing other work issues onto the backburner. But much still needs to be done in this critical area, according to Italian risk and insurance managers. According to Anra, the current emergency and the debate on the adoption of vaccine passports has highlighted a problem that has actually existed for some time. This is that organisations generally have a very low degree of awareness about the potential impacts of travel risks and, consequently, are not geared up to face them. They are generally devoid of tools that can shield both the employee abroad and the employer back home, especially from a legal standpoint. “Faced with the risk of contagion, companies have strongly strived to research and execute security protocols, through PCRs, serological tests and quarantines. However, a whiff of risk has always hovered around,” commented Alessandro De Felice, former president of Anra. Nevertheless, the recent adoption of strict travel protocols did not stop employees testing positive, particularly in sectors such as logistics where operations were never suspended, for the sake of guaranteeing the supply chain. Anra believes that the rules in this area need to clearer and tougher. Businesses now have the broad obligation to safeguard their employees under the duty-of-care requirements, but the dearth of specific legislation opens up a “chasm of uncertainty” for all parties involved, according to the association. Employers and management are potentially criminally liable in the event of accidents. The judiciary will eventually be called upon to issue a verdict. Companies and their risk managers find themselves in a difficult position because the regulatory requirements and applicable legislation on what is required and how to reduce risk for staff overseas is vague. At the same time, the companies themselves generally have a lack of understanding about the range of threats faced by staff and thus their own potential liability. Anra pointed out that one of the most common mistakes is to map the transfer hazards by focusing only on the geopolitical stability of a country. This leads to an underestimation of other equally important but often less-obvious and high-profile risks that are often more likely to happen and that can strike personal safety. To fully assess the hazards a worker may be exposed to, it is not sufficient to focus only on the high-profile risks such as terrorism or a country’s political instability, said Anra. The multifaceted aspects of daily lives and local customs, which can be of a legislative, religious and cultural nature, also need to be taken into account, argued the association. “The biggest shortcomings are undoubtedly those of SMEs. In most cases, there is no specific training on travel risks and the budgets assigned are insufficient or nil. There is also the absence of dedicated roles, namely a security officer, specialised in such matters – inevitably, this blemish exposes small and medium-sized companies to risks that, on the contrary, more structured organisations do not face,” said Mark Lowe, Genoa-based independent risk analyst and Anra partner. The truth is the problem is not confined to Italy. This common need has given rise to an international working group for the definition of clear cross-border guidance on travel risks – ISO 31030 (Travel Risk Management) – involving a total of 165 countries. “Italy is very well represented in this project – a matter of pride for us and proof of the country’s strong determination to fill the void associated with it for a long time. Anra is directly involved in the main working group comprising a total of 12 people, three of whom are Italian. We are providing a strong impetus to this standard and trying to create clear guidelines, which can be applied smoothly and in accordance with the national legislative framework. The goal is to endow companies with the tools to effortlessly devise internal procedures that can manage travel risks,” explained Mr Lowe, who is a member of the ISO working group as a representative of Anra. As this new tool is developed, in order to cope with the current situation, the best strategy is to rely as much as possible on an accurate and timely mapping of the risks. To help cope with the travel perils that stem from the pandemic, it is appropriate to rely on what science has on offer: from quick PCR tests to the vaccine passport, when and where it’s available. To this end, many organisations are already able to quickly and efficiently organise the vaccine for their staff on a voluntary basis, both as duty of care and in the mutual interest of safety. This is a solution that also allows people to return to work and something that has been absent for too long, concluded Anra.

Travel risk centre stage as Anra helps develop new ISO standard

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