When it comes to travel risk management and the benefits of travel health, safety and security, this is what every travel, human resources, risk and general manager should know. In this article we will cover workplace health and safety standardization, productivity, efficiency and safety that complies with the company’s social and legal obligations. By reading this article you will be able to identify the main business benefits of enhanced travel health, safety and security for business travellers and determine if you our your company have a demonstrable travel risk management system that support workplace health and safety and fulfills your social and legal primary duty of care objectives.
After all, why would you exclude business travel from your overall business health, safety and security strategy and objectives?
Workplace Standardization: Travel Health, Safety and Security Benefits
Travel Risk Management Benefits
Have you ever seen or visited a worksite/office where they proudly display the amount of hours or days since the last significant incident that disrupted work progress or endangered employee safety? Most likely. Have you ever seen similar or specific information displayed and communicated relevant to the last significant incident that disrupted business travel or endangered business traveller’s safety? Probably not.
Travel risk management is not, and should not, a stand-alone or extra-ordinary risk mitigation system. It is merely a standardization between the more traditional or know workplace, office, and site health and safety requirements and expectations for employees. It is simply an extension to include all mobile and traveling personnel by means of concern, planning, resourcing and support to maximize business performance, efficiency and safety as it relates to business travel.
Any business that does not have a universal approach, that is inclusive of business travel, is sending mixed messages to their employees and most likely exposing them unnecessarily to compliance and litigation issues.
While the primary motivator for travel risk management by way of health, safety and security enhancements, should not be compliance and litigation avoidance, embracing the objective of improved and acceptable workplace health and safety for all employees will certainly take a step in the right direction to meeting both of these outcomes.
Improved whole of workplace health, safety and security
The war for talent is far from over and one of the considerations by high value talent is the demands and support associated with business travel. Awareness of business travel health, safety and security has risen significantly in recent years but is still significantly more advanced than the supporting travel risk management systems and processes. Employers of choice and those maintaining competitive advantages in the market have been the first to adopt the principles with both tangible and intangible benefits.
Creating false class or safety standards within a company is never an advisable strategy, however failure to adequately support and care for you business traveling population results in exactly that. There should be no noticeable difference to travellers of all levels of experience and status in the company’s workplace health and safety mechanisms and planning, when transiting from a fixed office/workplace to that of a mobile business travel workplace or journey.
A simple standardization for those yet to implement a working travel health, safety and security strategy is advisable. Those with existing systems and processes need only ensure they remain extant and consistent with the overall company business travel objectives and social or legal expectations.
Improved Productivity, efficiency and safety
Standardized and effective business wide health, safety and security systems have proven and measurable business benefits.
Productivity derived from managed business travel can increased dramatically when inclusive of travel risk management. Lost hours, delays, disruptions, reduced work capacity and cost containment are all by-products of travel health, safety and security via travel risk management.
Given that multiple overlapping departments support and manage business travel, the total amount of wastage and efficiency management is rarely visible in a single report or budget review. Significant efficiencies can be realized when the entire system is standardized to support travel administration, planning, health, safety and security. Compounding savings and harmonized expenditure can result in thousands of dollars in working capital saved or re-injected back into the business.
Conclusion: Travel Health, Safety and Security Benefits
The benefits of travel risk management relating to travel health, safety and security should now be apparent to any business owner or manager. While workplace health and safety compliance does apply to business travel it will also result in sizable business savings and cost efficiencies if undertaken correctly, while meeting or exceeding any compliance or company’s social and legal obligations. Objectively review your current travel health, safety and security systems specific to travel risk management and use this advice as a guide to make comparisons or rectify any omissions to your processes immediately.