Protect Travelling Employees by being WorldAware
Terrorist attacks, high profile kidnappings and extortion, political insurgency, natural disasters and employee litigation are just some of the growing risks that businesses encounter when it comes to their travelling employees.
The most recent attack on a workers camp for Lebanese construction company, Setraco in Northern Nigeria, has once again thrown the light on the extremities of risk faced by employees working or travelling abroad, particularly in regions plagued by political instability. This attack was one of the biggest kidnappings yet in the region, and was marred with violence when a security guard was killed and seven foreign workers were taken hostage by extremists armed with weapons and explosives.
“There is an average of 15000 - 20 000 reported kidnappings taking place each year, globally, although this figure is significantly under reported. The impact of a kidnapping is enormous. Not only is it extremely traumatic for the victim, but dealing with an incident can result in a tragic loss of life, significant financial losses from ransom demands, associated costs to get help and intelligence on the ground especially in far-flung rural areas, business interruption, litigation in addition to long term reputational damage to the company,” explains Frederick Strydom, Crisis Risk Operations Manager for Aon Sub-Sahara Africa.
The Aon WorldAware Operations Centre – Johannesburg (AWOC-J) recently commenced operations in South Africa, in support of its principle WorldAware Operations Centre in Chicago (AWOC-C). The aim is to supply Aon WorldAware clients with more regional specific information around Sub-Saharan African countries in addition to conducting risk assessments and travel risk related research and analysis.
The risks that travelling employees face is growing in frequency and magnitude and includes:
· Health and safety risks
· Unpredictable natural disasters such as floods, fires and earthquakes
· Violent crime due to increasing social and economic divisions within countries
· Terrorism and political violence
“Organisations have a duty of care to safeguard their travelling employees. This includes monitoring country threat levels, preparing personnel prior to travel, being able to locate travellers and having procedures in place to react to travel related incidents, from the routine to the extraordinary,” explains Strydom.
Statistics
According to NYA International, a London-based kidnap and extortion response consultancy, it is conservatively estimated that only 35 percent of all kidnappings worldwide are reported to the authorities, with about half of these taking place in Latin America. In the Middle East and Asia, countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Thailand are particularly dangerous for kidnappings, either for political reasons or more often for ransom. On the African continent close to 1,000 abductions for ransom are reported in Nigeria each year alone.
Strydom says there are several reasons fuelling this worldwide risk. “The continuing economic crisis is causing more desperation and a rise in crime in general as a way to earn a living. Kidnapping can provide a more lucrative pay-out to these criminals who want a quick infusion of cash with little risk to themselves and a less likely chance of being apprehended by the authorities. All the more so when an employee is linked to a large corporation that is perceived to have deep pockets,” says Strydom.
How to Protect Your Employees
It is more important than ever for traveling employees to arm themselves with knowledge in advance of their trips in order to be prepared for any eventuality – from a kidnapping to an earthquake or tsunami such as the one experienced in Japan which cut off all communication with the outside world. Even the prospect of an employee experiencing a heart attack or contracting a life-threatening illness in a remote area far from medical facilities needs to be properly planned for.
“Ensure that your business travellers are informed by thoroughly researching the city, country and region to which they are planning to travel. Aon’s WorldAware Solutions provides travel risk analysis, safe travel policies, training and awareness, risk managed travel and incident response, incorporating the management of travel risk exposure into one system that wraps around existing insurance policies and relationships.
“When a travelling employee is in crisis, how quickly and effectively the company reacts is critical – whether it’s a kidnapping, a sudden unexpected and serious illness or a natural disaster. It can mean the difference between recovering and not at all for both the employee and company,” concludes Strydom.
