The Anvil Group urges employers to review their travel risk management processes in response to recent earthquakes

An incident on the scale of the recent earthquake in Chile and subsequent tsunami warnings should prompt organisations to consider how quickly they could respond to the needs of impacted personnel. If travellers or expatriates come to harm, employers face potentially severe consequences both legally and financially, as well as to their reputation.

Risks will continue to grow as companies increasingly globalise their operations, but in spite of this increased exposure, many organisations typically fail to start actively managing travel-related risk until a serious incident affects one of their travellers. Technological solutions including traveller tracking systems and intelligence dissemination services prove invaluable following significant events, such as natural disasters or terrorist incidents. As soon as an incident has been reported, it is critical that a corporation is alerted to the risks posed to its employees and thereafter to pinpoint the whereabouts of affected employees, so they can be contacted to check that they are safe and to offer them assistance. The systems are equally effective in preventing employees from travelling to an area severely disrupted by such incidents. One leading supplier of travel risk management services is the UK based security company, The Anvil Group. Their Managing Director, Matthew Judge explains, “Employers have a legal duty to protect the health and safety of employees through legislation such as the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which took effect in the UK in 2008, and companies face severe penalties if they cannot demonstrate compliance through effective risk management.” “Over the weekend, we were very quickly able to make contact with our clients who we knew had people travelling in Chile or about to depart, and have been assisting them with evacuation efforts in the region,” he continued. Following an earthquake of this magnitude, strong aftershocks are likely for weeks and the capital’s airport, Santiago, is continuing to operate only on an intermittent basis. The U.S. Department of State issued a travel alert on Monday urging travellers to avoid all non-essential travel to Chile for the next few weeks.