The top 10 health and travel safety risks in 2020

International SOS, a business travel and expatriation health and safety service provider, has teamed up with the latest edition of the Travel Risk Map presented its risk forecast for 2020. As in previous years, this was accompanied by a survey of 1,300 decision-makers from the business travel sector. The Business Resilience Trend Watch survey, in collaboration with Ipsos MORI, highlights critical gray areas of risk assessment as well as untapped opportunities to protect the mobile workforce with technological innovation.

The top 10 health and travel safety risks in 2020 from an expert perspective

The forecasts are based on various sources. These include the Travel Risk Management (TRM) Council, a representative sample of health, safety and security experts in the field of international travel and assignments. As a result, the following top 10 health and safety risks were formulated that companies should prioritize in 2020:

1. Risks resulting from geopolitical shifts will be the main challenge in the area of corporate mobility.
2. Mental health issues will become more important.
3. Physical health: Companies need to be more active in protecting the physical health of their workforce.
4. Cybercrime will be an increasing security risk.
5. Climate change will exacerbate the risk of environmental disasters.
6. Infectious disease outbreaks from both known and emerging pathogens will increase due to several factors, including climate change, increasing urbanization, declining vaccination rates, and security instability.
7. Bleisure Travel: The question of whether employers' duty of care also covers so-called bleisure travel will be increasingly discussed.
8. Millennials and Generation Z, who enter the workplace with different preferences, expectations and attitudes toward risk, will increasingly challenge companies to evolve their risk strategies.
9. There will be more high-profile litigation on the duty of care issue.
10. Startups and SMEs that may be under-resourced and under-experienced will have a hard time meeting the duty of care.
    Results of the Business Resilience Trends Watch survey.

Travel security risks prompt changes in itinerary

The results of the Business Resilience Trends Watch survey reveal the top factors that business travel managers believe will lead to changes in travel patterns in 2020:

1. Security threats (68 percent) - 23 percentage points more than the previous year.
2. Civil unrest (52 percent) - up 14 percentage points from the previous year.
3. Geopolitical unrest (52 percent) - up 20 percentage points from the previous year.
4. Natural disasters (51 percent) - 15 percentage points more than in the previous year.

Fifty-one percent of respondents believe health and safety risks have increased in 2019, and 47 percent expect risks to increase in the coming year.
In addition, the companies surveyed predict that the following three factors are significantly more likely to lead to travel changes than in the past:

1. epidemics (31 percent) - are estimated to be 19 percentage points higher in 2020 than the actual impact was in 2018.
2. Infectious diseases (35 percent) - are estimated to be 17 percentage points higher than the actual impact was in 2018.
3. Detention and kidnapping (29 percent) - are estimated to be 17 percentage points higher than the actual impact in 2018.

Gautier Porot, Regional Security Manager Switzerland at International SOS, comments: "Instability, unpredictability, rapid change and escalation are key characteristics of many incidents in our modern world. Employees potentially face security risks in areas previously considered safe, such as their choice of accommodation. Both established global organizations and so-called unicorns need to keep this in mind to protect their human capital and increase the resilience of their organizations. The need will continue to grow as over 40 % of the workforce is expected to be mobile."

Dr. Stefan Esser, Medical Director Central Europe, International SOS, adds: "The threats facing organizations and their employees affect both developed and emerging markets. It is encouraging to see that corporate decision makers are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of epidemics and infectious diseases. Over $1.7 trillion is expected to be invested by 2022 without considering the impact of travel disruption on employees and productivity. This makes it all the more important for companies to stay one step ahead of any potential disruption. With accurate information, tools and the support they need, companies can plan for the foreseeable risks and protect their investments and their employees."

Gray areas in risk assessment

Changing travel habits for both domestic and international travel, as well as workforce diversification, create gray areas. Employers are not adapting travel policies to new risk factors, and travelers tend to disregard policies when they restrict the use of preferred transportation or accommodations. Surprisingly, less than one-third of companies include cybersecurity in their travel policies. Ignoring the duty of care can result in litigation and reputational damage, and negatively impact employees and the business.

• Only 11 percent consider shared-economy services in their travel policies.
• Only 26 percent of companies consider the needs of female travelers in their travel policies.
• 31 percent cover cybersecurity.
• One in ten respondents (11 percent) consider LGBTQ+ travelers.
• Mental health issues are an issue in only 15 percent of travel policies.
• Travelers with disabilities find arrangements for their needs at only 12 percent.
• 22 percent of travel policies include specifications for Bleisure travel.

Safety through technology

Gautier Porot continues, "Companies invest a lot of money in new technologies every year, but seem to invest very little in the safety of their employees, even though new technologies are on the market. From artificial intelligence in situational awareness to e-learning courses to traveler location, advances have been made to protect people."

Travel managers continue to struggle along year after year:

• Informing and training employees about travel risks (53 percent).
• Communication with employees during a crisis (47 percent).
• Acknowledgement of knowledge of travel information before departure (45 percent).
• Localization of employees on business trips (42 percent).
• Crisis management (40 percent).

The current Travel Risk Map on the most important travel safety risks can be HERE can be downloaded.