Spotlight on business travel

The risk management function has a crucial role to play in securing senior leadership buy-in and ownership of the travel risk management plan.

Post-travel debriefings, testing, and training are important for improving travel risk management plans.

A company culture, set by senior leadership, where travel-related risk is taken seriously should be promoted to ensure that employees are fully understanding and aware of procedures and what help is at hand for them when abroad.

Insurers have shifted from a reactive to proactive approach and can play a partnership role in formulating a policy that fits a company’s needs to support a comprehensive travel risk management plan. 

ISO 31030 provides companies with a benchmark to assess, build, implement and review an effective travel risk management framework.

ISO 31030 is elevating the importance of duty-of-care, the involvement of more organisational roles, testing and training of a company’s business travel processes, and employee’s awareness and engagement of a company’s travel risk management procedures.

Companies should involve multiple stakeholders, including HR, IT, and line mangers in the development of travel risk management plans, and all should understand the risks and impact on the company’s duty of care.

A more forensic approach should be applied by companies to capture and account for the risks posed by business travel in their risk management framework.