Understanding Duty of Care

duty of care, meetings
Duty of care extends into the area of travel and meetings management in several ways.

At the “Global Meeting Planning” Summit being held in New York May 21 to 22, educational sessions will focus on attendee safety and security, as well as how companies can protect themselves legally. One of the hot topics: duty of care.

How exactly does duty of care apply to international travel and meetings? A free, downloadable iJET white paper, Duty of Care: Are You Covered?” breaks it down.

Insurance

At a minimum, every employer should be insured for travel-related risks. Whether
self-insured or purchasing insurance through a carrier, employers typically need to quantify their travel programs to measure risk. For example, they should know how many employees travel; how often; whether they go to high-risk destinations; if so, where they go; use of vehicles, etc.

Corporate Travel Policies

A sound corporate travel policy highlights risk-related restrictions and requirements such as consequences for out-of-policy business travel; training required for travel to high-risk destinations; tools to monitor and communicate changing threats to domestic and international travelers; ground transport policies and vendors; and a list of the company’s preferred airlines.

Travel Management Companies

Do your employees know how to book travel with the company’s preferred TMC? What are consequences for employees who do not? When an employee books travel or accommodation without regard to company policy, it can be very difficult to track and contact that employee in case of an emergency.

Destination Intelligence

To stay out of harm’s way, employees need up-to-date information about the threats they may encounter during their trip. Pre-trip information about the intrinsic threats (security, health, weather, transportation) of a particular location is important—as are updates to changing situations as they unfold. In addition, travelers and expatriates need timely, actionable information before, during and even after a trip to help keep them safe while away from the home work site and to help them react quickly if help is required.

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Other travel and meeting management responsibilities that fall under the umbrella of duty of care include Hotel, Airlines and Ground Transportation. For an in-depth look, download the white paper here.