IN TOUCH : Global workforce risks

The risks of business travel are thrown into sharp relief by events such as the recent Chilean earthquake – but who knew that the mortality rate for those suffering heart attack in Singapore is 97 percent?
Destinations deemed low risk are not no risk, warns Tony Ridley, regional security and intelligence director with International SOS. It seems outcomes for cardiac events in Singapore are statistically dismal because of things like lack of CPR knowledge in the general populace and the difficulty of getting ambulances through the crush of traffic.
Speaking at recent seminar on managing the risks of global workforce, Ridley noted that while dramatic events – earthquakes, bomb blasts, flu pandemics – capture headlines, the biggest risks to business travellers are often of more mundane nature – whether falling sick in places lacking quick access to good healthcare, or auto accidents.
Strategies for avoiding risk are perhaps equally mundane – good preparation. Research thoroughly and plan precisely and you’re less likely to look like potential victim when you arrive to do business in strange city, says Ridley. He also warns that focus on cutting travel costs can conflict with travel risk management – and actually incur higher costs.
“Having your most important people arriving in foreign country at 1am is not best practice. Or they may arrive in the middle of local public holiday and that means loss of productivity. Good travel planning is not sexy stuff but involves significant cost savings.”
Despite the recession, travelling for business has continued its steady upward climb with the past year showing 12 percent growth in trips and 24 percent growth in business travellers, says Ridley. In terms of 2010 travel trends, he notes that both “old” and “new” business travellers are at risk – the former because their travel habits may no longer be appropriate to constantly changing circumstances and the latter because they are more tech-savvy than street wise.
And on the tech-savvy front, while mobile phone technology offers better safety blanket in terms of tracking and communication, phones can fail and because technology devices can now carry huge amount of valuable data, there is increased risk of fraud or data loss.
Ridley notes that International SOS work is more about planning and precaution than it is about emergency evacuations. That said, the company ran about 50 emergency flights day last year, handling over 1.2 million cases including nearly 18,000 evacuations.
Now in its 26th year, International SOS operates in more than 70 countries with worldwide network of alarm centres, clinics and more than 60,000 health and logistics providers who offer local expertise, preventative advice and emergency assistance during critical illness, accident or civil unrest.
One Kiwi company that makes use of their services is Dunedin-based NHNZ whose award-winning documentary series are filmed in some of the world’s most remote and dangerous locations. Its head of corporate service Tim Mepham talked about the NHNZ production process, the importance of planning and risk analysis – as well as what can happen when things don’t go according to plan.
The seminar also covered medical risk outlooks for the coming year including the possibility of influenza pandemics.