Travel Risk

Management and
Duty of Care
By: Peter L Morton
CEO Morton Security Solutions
What is the responsibility of an employer
or non-profit organization when it comes
to international business travel and
providing a safe work environment?

Introduction
Over the past few years, the world has seen
enormous growth in international trade, and
the global economy has become more
reliant on corporations sending personnel to
places that they may or may not have
known existed. In 2013, businesses spent
1.18 trillion dollars on travel worldwide, with
the U.S. spending 291 billion dollars alone.
The rate of growth within the Business
Travel Sector is forecast to continue as
more and more organizations operate
globally. There has also been a rise in
health, safety and security issues among
international business travelers while
operating in foreign countries.
There are many questions pertaining to
what a multinational organization is
responsible for when it comes to providing a
safe work environment for traveling
employees and expats. Does an
organization implement a risk management
program out of fear due to common law
requirements in the U.S., or should
organizations be taking on and promoting
an atmosphere of corporate responsibility,
implementing a Travel Risk Management
(TRM) Program because its the right thing
to do for their people?
The hope is that organizations will take the
time to understand what their responsibility
is based on strong corporate values rather
than common law or criminal law (in the
U.K.). An organization not only has a
responsibility or Duty of Care to provide a
safe, secure and healthy work environment
for its personnel here in the U.S. but also for
its personnel traveling to foreign locations.
This White Paper will examine some of the
knowledge gaps pertaining to Duty of Care
and TRM as well as how to provide an
organization with the tools to implement
best TRM practices in a foreign country.

Why conduct risk assessments

for business travel?
Believe it or not, an organizations
personnel are at greater risk while operating
in a foreign country. Regardless of where
they go, the job they are doing or their
experience level, the risk associated with
labor goes up when that individual travels
and operates in a foreign location.
Now, thats quite a loaded claim considering
all the different factors that go into
assessing risk. Its valid and even
necessary to question the above statement,
so lets examine it. What are the risks and
how do you define them when it comes to a
traveling employee? Why does the risk level
go up?
This is a list of common crisis situations and
the potential effects that travelers are faced
with while traveling overseas.

Medical Emergencies- Nearly 50% of

all travelers will experience a medical
emergency while traveling. Often
something as simple as a sprained
ankle can require a medical evacuation,
depending on access to healthcare and
the quality of care.

Auto Accidents- Approximately 1.3.

million people die every year, globally,
from auto accidents, including
pedestrian involved incidents. Nearly
20-30 million are injured, and 90% of all
auto accidents happen in low-income
countries. In impoverished locations,
over 50% of the incidents involve a
pedestrian.

Stress and Trauma- Many

organizations have received requests
for evacuation from their personnel due
to stressed-out workers who were not
prepared to deal with or able to adjust to
long-term assignments in a foreign
country.

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Assault/Sexual Assault- Often

employees will travel to a location
without being briefed or prepared for the
culture that they are going into. They
think that foreign locations have a
legitimate police presence and
emergency response just like the U.S.
They end up in avoidable situations,
resulting in assault or sexual assault.
Often they never see justice for the
incident, and that in itself can have longlasting traumatic effects on an
employee.

Morton Security Solutions commissioned an

independent survey in order to understand
the current threat environment that travelers
face and how they perceive those threats.
The results were revealing as to the
possibilities of an organizations personnel
facing multiple types of crisis incidents
during their time as a Global Business
Traveler.

safety risk assessments and physical

security risk assessments. Risk mitigation is
integrated into almost every aspect of
planning and operations in most
organizations. It only makes sense to
conduct TRM along with all the other risk
management programs.
The ultimate question an organization
should be asking their team is, why are we
not conducting risk assessments for our
personnel before they travel? Responsible
organizations will at least ask the question
and investigate the return on investment
(ROI) for their group. The risks associated
with travel can be just as dangerous as
those you might find on a factory floor or
construction site. The only difference is that
Occupational Safety and Health is not
monitoring it.

Morton Security Solutions required only that

the individuals surveyed were U.S. based
and that they travel internationally. The
company had no input as to who took part in
this survey, other than the two criteria listed
above.

What is the ROI for an

organization?
Often risk mitigation, in regards to physical
security, is put on an organizations back
burner. This is due to an inability to see a
direct ROI or difficulty understanding the
measures of effectiveness pertaining to
those mitigating factors.
Many organizations define, assess and
mitigate risk on a daily basis. They conduct
financial risk assessments, health and

If an organization decides to hire a security

team to protect assets in a warehouse, they
might never see the impact of implementing
those security measures. Just the act of

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putting security guards in place could deter

potential criminal actions, leaving
management to wonder if a crime would
have happened or not.

does not cover an employee operating

outside of the U.S.
Unless the organization is paying for
additional coverage, like Foreign
Voluntary Workers Compensation, the
employee will have to pay, which really
leaves the organization open to tort
damages. Even then, it is important to
read the fine print. What is actually
covered and what are average costs for
medical treatment in that country?

The same principle often applies to TRM.

Organizations have a hard time measuring
the ROI. Unfortunately, current threats are
increasing on a global scale, even in
developed locations. Many organizations
are being hit with a reality check and are
now enthusiastically implementing TRM
programs. They are beginning to see the
potential for catastrophes and the actual
costs that their organization is responsible
for.
As an example of potential costs associated
with a crisis, lets look at auto accidents
(which happen to be one of the leading
crisis situations that travelers face in a
foreign country). Lets break down the
potential costs accrued due to an accident
in a foreign country, like Mexico or France.
Depending on the severity of the incident,
an organization may be faced with paying
for the following:

Damage to a vehicle- Regardless of an

organizations insurance coverage,
personnel may be required to pay for
damages upfront and fight for
reimbursement after they get home. The
organization may even have to wire
cash to their employee or they might
have their corporate card charged
without prior notice. There is nothing like
a $10,000 credit card bill to deal with
after a trip.

Medical bills- Many organizations think

that their medical insurance plan or
workers compensation insurance will
cover personnel traveling in a foreign
country. In most cases, an
organizations health insurance does not
cover their personnel in a foreign
country, and workmans comp definitely

Another important factor to consider is

that many countries will not let that
employee leave until the medical bill is
paid. Some may even make you pay
upfront before they let you enter the
medical facility.

Injury or death of a foreign national- If

an organizations employee happens to
be involved in an accident with a local
and that individual is injured or killed,
the organization may be in for a long
wait and out a whole lot of money. What
is an organization responsible for in this
case, and what are they willing to
cover? What if an employee is detained
for the duration of a long legal battle?
How much responsibility does the
organization bear? Will they cover legal
fees, or does their insurance cover
them? What is the employee
responsible for, and if that organization
does lets them bear the responsibility,
are they going to take their employer to
court when they get home?

Injury or death of an employee- Yes,

employees pass away in foreign
countries and yes, the sending
organization will bear the responsibility
of repatriating remains and consoling
family members. They may even have
to pay to send a family member to
accompany the remains home. Does the

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employees life insurance coverage

extend to a foreign country? They may
also have to pay a foreign mortuary to
prepare the remains for repatriation.
Some uncomfortable questions that the
organization should ask before a
situation like this arises are, what type of
culture were they operating in and what
are the traditions for preparing remains
in that culture? These are questions
most organizations rarely ask and
questions most people hate to think
about. They are, however, realities that
an organization cannot afford to
overlook. Imagine the distress that a
family may already have to go through
and amplify it by not having a death
notification and repatriation process.
Study the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
incident to get an idea of what not to do
when notifying family members of a
catastrophic event resulting in the death
of their loved one. Texting a death
notification to a family member of an
employee or a customers family
member, is a definite failure, extremely
unprofessional and downright
coldhearted.

Medical Evacuation- Although there

are numerous developed countries with
extremely effective healthcare systems,
an organizations employee is not going
to convalesce in a foreign country. If

long-term treatment is required, the

organization will have to make
arrangements and unfortunately spend
a bit of money, even if they have
insurance coverage. Unless the
organization plans on providing
transportation and lodging for the family
of that member (in a foreign country),
they will more than likely have to
evacuate the employee back to the U.S.
Evacuations, on average, can cost
anywhere from $20,000 to $150,000.
Sometimes it can be even more,
depending on the situation. When
transporting a patient who has a
communicable disease (like Ebola, for
instance), the costs may be
considerably more.
The overall monetary cost to an
organization is just a portion of what they
may be responsible for when it comes to an
employee encountering a crisis in a foreign
location. Other costs to consider are:

Lost opportunities
Loss of employee productivity
Aftercare/mental health costs
Employee confidence
Member lawsuits
Family lawsuits
Foreign national lawsuits
Organization reputation
Customer confidence
Continuity breakdown
Mission failure

Overall, an incident involving a medical

evacuation could end up costing an
organization, $500,000. This is a cost that
some organizations may find a bit difficult to
chalk up to experience, especially when
implementing a TRM Program would cost
only a fraction of the total cost.

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Is there any data to back this

research up?
The Center for Disease Control did a study
on how many international travelers
experience an illness requiring healthcare
while traveling in a foreign country. The
numbers were staggering. Out of every
100,000 travelers, half will experience
illness while in a foreign country for
approximately 30 days; 70% will be able to
treat the illness via over-the-counter
medication (if it is available); 30% will need
to be treated at a medical facility, and 5%
will need a bed to recover in; 300 out of the
100,000 will need to be admitted, and 50
will require evacuation; one out of every
100,000 will die.
For organizations that travel less than the
average Road Warrior, they must also
consider this: the less people travel, the
more susceptible they are to sickness in a
foreign or new location. The risk goes up for
those whose immune systems might not be
used to the local food and environment.
Commercial organizations, as a segment,
are not actively keeping stats on incidents
involving crime or assault in a foreign
location. However, aid workers are, and we
can base some of our conclusions off those
numbers.
According to the USAID Aid Workers
Security report for 2013, aid worker
kidnappings have quadrupled in the past
decade. The number of Major Attacks on
aid workers has risen from 42 in the year
2000 to 167 in the year 2012. The numbers
of attacks in between the years 2000 and
2012 have been steadily increasing,
showing a trend of increased risk of attack.
Although aid workers cannot necessarily be
categorized the same as business travelers,
they do operate in some of the same
locations as utility and oil companies as well
as mining operations. We can draw the

conclusion that the increase in violent

attacks against these workers is an indicator
of increased poverty, conflict and
desperation among the local nationals in the
locations that these attacks are taking
place. This is an indicator of further
assaults, kidnapping and overall crime.
We can also look at significant events that
have taken place over the past year, to
determine if threats are increasing for
travelers:

The ongoing internal conflict and proxy

invasion of northeast Ukraine.
Increased reporting of sexual assaults
on foreign visitors to India.
Boko Harams rise to the spotlight in
Nigeria and constant threats as well as
attacks against Western travelers in
their territory.
Ongoing protests and an increase in
victimization of travelers due to the
World Cup event in Brazil.
Civil conflict in South Sudan causing the
evacuation and displacement of people
and organizations.
Egypts multiple regime changes and
the subsequent political violence and
social unrest.
Mexicos increase in vigilantes and
militia rule due to the governments
failure to contain narcotics trafficking
and violence.
The fall of northern Iraq to the Islamic
State in the Levant (ISIL) and the
pending re-engagement by NATO and
the US Government.
The ongoing war in Syria that may see
an increase in casualties due to
necessary outside nations involvement.
The public execution of American
journalists in the Middle East.
The rocket attacks within Israel and
ongoing conflict between the
Palestinians and Israelis.

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The military coup and continued

declaration of Martial Law in Thailand.
Terror attacks in northern China and
ongoing disputes between Hong Kong
and the Chinese government.
Improvised explosive device detonations
in Santiago, Chile, by anarchist groups.
Threats to the U.S. and U.K. causing an
increase of national threat levels to
imminent.

The incidents listed above are only some of

the current higher profile events taking
place. Globally, political events, protests,
terror attacks, crime, disease and general
disruptions take place daily, and travelers
are increasingly affected daily.

Why are organizations not

acting, to fulfill their Duty of
Care?
Lets start out by looking at how
organizations provide a safe work
environment in the U.S. to how they provide
the same in a foreign country. We can then
identify the process and information gaps
between the two.
If an organization were sending an
employee to a new factory here in the U.S.,
the leadership in that organization would be
required to provide certain information, like:
Training on specific machinery and
processes
Briefings on safety measures,
hazardous materials
Briefings on evacuation routes and
weather shelter locations
Physical security processes (key card
access, gate guards, etc.)
Sexual harassment policies
Employee regulations/rights
Access to healthcare in the event of an
injury.

Most organizations sending personnel

overseas cover the following:

Travel insurance
Emergency contact info
Embassy location.

Many organizations do not even cover 10%

of the different risk-mitigating procedures
and factors that are necessary to keep
employees aware and, in some cases, alive.
The question is, why not?
The simple answer is, a lack of knowledge
on the threats that exist and fear of creating
an environment of.fear, among their
employees. Of course, the expenditure of
more resources on additional safety
measures may also have something to do
with it.
Many managers and leaders simply expect
that their personnel will take care of their
own situations, should they arise. This is no
longer a feasible attitude or plan.

The U.K. established the Corporate

Manslaughter and Homicide Act of 2007,
mandating that corporations ensure the
safety, health and security of their personnel
not only while operating in the U.K. but also
when they travel abroad on company
business.

2014 Morton Security Solutions all rights reserved. You may not publish or reproduce this document without permission from the author.

The U.K. justice system can now criminally

prosecute businesses that are not in
compliance. Although the U.S. has not
taken so drastic a measure, it is on the
horizon, and all it takes is one high-profile
catastrophic event. U.S. businesses and
organizations are still on the hook for civil
litigation and tort damages, which can be
just as bad as prison for some
organizations.

Simple solutions to keep people

safe and productive while in
foreign locations.
Is it even possible for an organization to
stop a terrorist attack from happening or
keep their personnel from getting sick? Of
course a company or non-government
organization cannot stop bad people from
doing bad things. There are, however,
proactive solutions that will help personnel
to avoid and even predict, with some
certainty general events that might affect
their travel.
If an organization is only able to implement
one risk-mitigating factor (or cannot afford to
do more), they need to write a Travel Risk
Management Policy and mandate that their
personnel conduct a risk assessment before
they travel. Just the act of conducting the
risk assessment is a great way of increasing
the travelers situational awareness. Some
of the things to consider in the risk
assessment are:

Member education level

Cultural awareness
Specific training received
Pre-existing medical conditions
New or return locations
Group travel vs. traveling alone
Location risk level
Access to healthcare
Friendly or unfriendly governments
Corruption index

Failed state index

Political conflict
Crime rates
Insider threat
Harassment from fellow employees
Employee criminal history
Cultural dos and donts.

The list above is not all inclusive and must

be adapted to the threats as they change
(which they constantly do).
Organizations also need to ensure that they
are in compliance with healthcare
regulations when asking specific questions
about an employees heath. Although preexisting conditions are a leading cause of
medical issues and evacuations, you will
have to use a medical professional in
screening that employee or not screen them
at all.
Other risk-mitigating factors that
organizations can implement through
Morton Security Solutions include:

Satellite GPS beacons and satellite

phones for locations without cell phone
service or to use as a backup if the
service goes down. You cant call for
help if you dont have the means to
communicate.
GPS monitoring applications that work
anywhere mobile data is available on
iPhone and Android.
Travel Risk Management Program
development via Morton Security
Solutions consultants.
Specific training from qualified prior
federal agents, military professionals
and medical evacuation experts.
Medical evacuation and non-medical
evacuation insurance.
Evacuation planning and pre-travel
safety briefs.
Access to the TRM Portal and an
assigned intelligence analysis team to

2014 Morton Security Solutions all rights reserved. You may not publish or reproduce this document without permission from the author.

conduct risk assessments for an

organizations personnel.
There are so many cost-effective ways to
keep people informed and avoid a crisis in
the first place that it would be illogical not to
implement them.

Conclusion
As globalization continues to develop,
multinational organizations will feel the
growing pains of developing and emerging
markets who quite possibly do not want to
roll with the changes. Conflict is bound to
arise, and if organizations do not implement
a TRM Program now, they will fall behind
and their personnel will leave that
organization to work for an organization that
shows more concern for their safety, health
and security.

Its getting real out there, and

organizations cannot afford to let TRM get
pushed aside. Corporate responsibility often
seems to be tied to being energy efficient,
green or charitable. It really should be more
focused on how we treat our people and
how we take care of them. By doing this,
organizations are ensuring the longevity and
prosperity of their organizations and, in the
long run, our society.
An organizations most valuable assets do
not consist of equipment, technology or land
but the people who develop and operate
those things. Without them, nothing is
accomplished. Protecting that investment in
human capital should be a top priority for
multination corporations and organizations.
Implementing a TRM program saves
resources and ultimately lives.

You can contact the author or any of the professionals at Morton Security Solutions via:
www.mortonsecure.com
info@mortonsecure.com
1-855-572-3151

2014 Morton Security Solutions all rights reserved. You may not publish or reproduce this document without permission from the author.

Works Cited:
Association for Safe International Road Travel, retrieved from: http://www.asirt.org/initiatives/informing-roadusers/road-safety-facts/road-crash-statistics.aspx
CDC Foundation, businesspulse publication, retrieved from:
http://www.cdcfoundation.org/businesspulse/travelers-health-infographic
GBTA Foundation, Global Business Travel Outlook- Annual Global Report and Forecast 2014-2018
Morton Security Solutions Business Traveler Survey, retrieved from:
https://magic.piktochart.com/output/2643827-trm-survey-results
The Aid Worker Database, USAID, retrieved from: https://aidworkersecurity.org/incidents/report/summary
United Kingdom Legislation, Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 retrieved from:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/19/contents
About Morton Security Solutions:
We are a Travel Risk Management Company that specializes in providing multi-national companies and
organizations with the resources necessary to avoid crisis situations which are becoming more and more
common in foreign locations. We facilitate safe international travel and relocation by offering simple, proactive
and reliable solutions tailored to your organizations needs and personnel qualifications and experience.
By implementing comprehensive travel policies, educating organization members and providing emergency
communications and asset tracking, we can provide your commercial or non-profit the ability to stay ahead of
the threats and respond rapidly if necessary. We help you to mitigate risks through predictive analysis,
analyzing similar situations that you could be confronted with and implementing crisis avoidance and risk
mitigation plans.
We work with both commercial and non-profit organizations that operate anywhere (including extremely highrisk locations) around the world. By signing up to be a member of our TRM Program, you are providing your
organizations members the valuable tools needed to mitigate the risks associated with international travel and
relocation. You are not only providing your member the peace of mind to continue operating effectively, you are
also ensuring your organizations continuity and minimizing the potential loss of opportunities due to a crisis.

About the Author:

Peter L Morton
Peter is a former Intelligence Officer with the US Army, a Law Enforcement Professional and an
Industrial Security Expert. He has deployed multiple times with the military over a 13-year time
period and has traveled the world, implementing the Travel Risk Management techniques and
services Morton Security Solutions now offers to commercial and non-profit organizations. He
holds degrees in Business Management and Criminal Justice and is also an Instructor of
Industrial Security at the collegiate level. He resides with his wife and two boys in Vail, AZ.

2014 Morton Security Solutions all rights reserved. You may not publish or reproduce this document without permission from the author.

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