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TRAVEL RISK MANAGEMENT 2015
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Typical topics might be:
• disease risks for the country concerned;
• personal itness to travel;
• immunisation;
• air/sea travel to destination;
• accommodation;
• manual handling (both as regards luggage and work equipment); • location speciic safety issues;
• terrorism risks;
• medical emergencies;
• biological hazards;
• food poisoning;
• lone working hazards;
• document control;
• any speciic risks related to the particular assignment.
c) Training
Staf being sent abroad will need to be suitably trained (and a record kept of the training) on health and safety requirements, the need for pre travel medical/dental check ups, personal safety (general precautions to be taken to ensure food safety, consumption of safe drinking water, personal security and money precautions), public transport and taxis, driving abroad (in some countries it may be advisable to use a driver who is a host national), dress and cultural awareness.
d) Equipment
As in the working environment in the home country, it is important for work equipment to be adequate suitable and properly maintained. In the cross-border context, special arrangements may be required to ensure a supply of replacements/spare parts.
e) Construction projects and facilities management
Larger organisations establishing a more permanent presence abroad may need to be engaged in construction projects to provide suitable accommodation and specialist workplaces, and long term facilities management. There will be an overriding need to comply with the requirements of local law, but subject to that it will be appropriate to comply with the requirements imposed in EU countries generally as regards health and safety in construction projects, particularly in respect of the duties placed on clients in respect of the design and management
of projects. Facilities management is likely to require the engagement of local staf, and compliance with local law as regards their employment will be the priority.
f) Lone working
Lone working is likely to be a common feature of the employment of staf sent abroad. Particular attention will need to be given to training the individuals concerned on the special hazards of lone working and the means of mitigating the risks. It will also be necessary to ensure that back-up support for them (both locally and in the home country) is available.
g) Incident and near-miss reporting
Systems will need to be established to ensure adequate and timely reporting of incidents and “near-misses”, and also to ensure follow up on reports, and on expressions of concern, etc received from third parties.
5. Documentation
As always with health and safety, it is not suicient to comply, but the organisation must also be in a position to be able to prove that it has complied. Adequate documentation of risks assessed and measures taken to mitigate them is therefore essential.
6. Conclusion
Assignments abroad necessarily take employees into locations and circumstances where the employer will have little direct control of the factors afecting employees' safety. They also frequently involve increased risk and hazards not found in the home country environment. However much can be done by advance planning to mitigate the hazards and risks. Ensuring that appropriate precautions are taken in advance will not only protect employers against potential legal liabilities, but also makes good business sense.
12. R v Chargot [2008] and R v Tangerine Confectionary Limited and Veolia ES (UK) Limited [2011].
13. The courts have awarded compensation for injuries to employees working abroad. See Palfrey v Ark Ofshore Limited [2001] (damages in respect of death from malaria caught in West Africa when employer had failed to warn of the malaria hazard on the basis of publicly available information, but had merely given general advice to seek medical advice on vaccinations and prophylactics); McDermid v Nash Dredging and Reclamation Company Limited [1987] (UK employee injured while working on a Dutch boat due to Dutch captain's negligence while in Swedish territorial waters). In Gizbert v ABC News [2006] the Employment Appeal Tribunal awarded a news reporter damages for unfair dismissal for refusing to accept a dangerous
assignment in a war zone.
14. An Italian company which posted an employee to the UK to do painting work on a crane was ined following a fatal
injury to the employee after a fall due to failure of the management system to address work at heights adequately, and failure to ensure good condition of work equipment. (Industria Armamento Meridionale SpA) [2007].