The pandemic has pushed travel insurance and health and safety for business travelers to the fore, according to Chubb. More than four out of five business travelers state that, due to the pandemic, they need to pay more attention to travel insurance protection before starting their trip. Additionally, 86% of business travelers agree that travel insurance makes them more comfortable on business or leisure trips. And by another overwhelming lead, nearly 90% of business travelers said they wanted to understand hotel security protocols prior to their stay.

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“Our survey shows that business travelers are now paying more attention to what travel insurance they have before they go on a trip,” said John Thompson, division director, International Accident and Health, Chubb. “As COVID recedes as a barrier to travel, the importance of having top-notch medical health insurance and employer’s duty of care is increasingly recognized.”

While there will likely be some starts and stops on resumption of air traffic, there is one fact that will always exist, according to Denise Balan, senior vice president, director of US security risks AXA XLThis is the need for companies to consider traveler safety. Balan held a session at RIMS Live 2021 entitled, “Travel Crisis Avoided: Helpful Tips to Keep Your Colleagues Travel Safe”. He outlined the employer’s duty of care and the appropriate steps companies should take to avoid harm while traveling to employees.

“According to best practice, there must be plans in place to advise travelers on safety issues. These issues can be health related, such as the fact that there is an Ebola outbreak currently occurring in West Africa, and they can also bring with them more general safety concerns such as the risk of crime or political unrest at the destination, ”she said. “Most business travel is smooth and routine, but things can still happen. There are robberies, identity theft, incarceration, and even natural disasters that can affect travel […] and let’s not forget kidnapping – it still occurs in its various forms, be it virtual, explicit, or traditional.

“In order to perform due diligence, an organization should take some definitive action. This includes providing a traveler with information on safety and health information at the destination they are going to prior to departure, and providing a traveler with emergency contact information and of course ensuring that the travel logs do not distinguish between senior management and base – it is really important that the safety of all employees is considered equally. “

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Emil de Carvalho, executive director at global risk and intelligence consultancy S-RM, said companies need to consider prevention, preparation and response when coordinating business travel. Preparation is about understanding the risk profile (both historical and current) of the destinations that employees are traveling to. With COVID-19 in mind, employers and travelers may want to consider active destination cases, hospital stays, locally mandated health and safety protocols, and the overall effectiveness of the destination COVID response compared to their country of origin.

“It is also important to remember that there is no one size fits all when it comes to prevention and preparation,” said de Carvalho during the joint presentation with Balan. “For some individual travelers, there may be circumstances that need to be considered in addition to any local threats. These individual circumstances can increase their vulnerability in a particular location. For example, female or LGBTQ travelers are more prone to crime and harassment in some destinations than in others. And that doesn’t necessarily mean these people shouldn’t travel, but they may need additional support from their employer depending on their destination. “

According to de Carvalho, the safety awareness of the individual traveler is key. Every business traveler should be aware of the local threats and their personal vulnerabilities and vulnerabilities. They should know exactly where to go and have a plan on how to get there safely, and they should know what to do and who to call if something goes wrong. Employers can help by providing actionable travel risk information to business travelers and making them aware of the many resources travel insurers make available, such as: B. 24-hour emergency numbers and travel advice.

“Businesses should consider providing pre-departure information and training to travelers,” he added. “This can be graduated and risk-based – from an email with useful information for traveling to places of low threat, to security awareness seminars for places of higher risk, to very intensive training in hostile environments for those traveling to the most complex US and most dangerous places around the world. “

In the context of COVID-19, this type of risk prevention and pre-departure briefing is more important than ever. As part of their due diligence, employers must ensure that their employees can travel comfortably, understand the risks, and are well prepared to resolve both expected and unexpected problems should they arise.