Updating Your Travel Risk Management Policy: How Often Is Necessary And What You Need To Consider
In the world of business travel, there is a common assumption that if nothing has gone wrong in the past, then the likelihood of something happening to your travellers in the future is slim. As a result, organisations may not have a Travel Risk Management (TRM) program in place, or if they do, it is not something that is frequently reviewed. This ‘set and forget’ approach may expose your business travellers to unnecessary risks.
While there is no predicting what the future holds, the truth is no organisation is immune to a crisis. Business travellers are often exposed to unfamiliar situations and environments when they travel, each of which carry their own risk profiles that an effective TRM program could protect them from. And while TRM isn’t a new concept, it’s frequently underdeveloped compared to other risk policies and programs within an organisation.
At what frequency should you review your organisation’s TRM policy?
Risks are ever evolving thus it’s crucial for organisations to continually review and adapt their TRM policies to ensure they remain effective and are in the best position to protect your business travellers.
Frank Harison, Regional Security Director (Americas) at World Travel Protection, recommends organisations implement an annual review to set the strategy for the upcoming year along with quarterly reviews to monitor performance, compliance and emerging risks.
“Regular reviews, supported by comprehensive education, communication, and location management, ensure that TRM policies are robust and responsive to the eve changing travel landscapes. This allows travellers to make informed decisions when faced with a crisis, emergency, or even something as simple as travel interruptions,” Harrison adds.
For organisations with mature safety, risk, and enterprise risk audit programs, it is recommended to align travel approval and any relevant travel program audits (such as TRM) with established schedules. This ensures consistency, leverages existing audit frameworks, and enhances the overall effectiveness of TRM by integrating it seamlessly into the organisation’s broader risk management strategy.
What to look for when reviewing your TRM policy:
Harrison suggests utilising the following approach when reviewing your TRM policy:
- Review KPIs and performance metrics: This can cover safety and compliance measures, operational efficiency, traveller satisfaction and risk management.
- Discuss incidents and near-misses: Were you aware of potential threats before they occurred?
- Assess compliance with travel policies: Did all your travellers complete destination safety and pre-travel training? Did they follow all policies and procedures?
- Identify emerging risks (tactical and strategic) and challenges: How will you be identifying these emerging risks?
- Evaluate the effectiveness of current measures: Is your policy in line with best practice standards?
- Plan corrective actions and improvements: How will you implement this?
Is your TRM policy aligned with the ISO 31030 framework?
During your review, take into consideration how your organisation’s TRM policy compares to the ISO 31030 standard.
The guideline outlined in the ISO 31030 framework provides organisations with a structured approach to the development, implementation, evaluation and review of their TRM policy. In doing so, it will help organisations identify gaps and opportunities to improve their travel systems and processes, ensuring that they protect their business travellers and fulfil their Duty of Care requirements.
To learn more about the ISO 31030 and get more practical steps on how you can strengthen duty of care policies, enhance risk assessment, or align with industry standards, watch our latest masterclass‘ISO 31030: Travel Framework – Future Proof Tomorrow’s Risk’.
Enhancing your TRM policy with external support
At World Travel Protection, we help organisations through the ISO 31030 framework to develop educational programs for pre travel awareness and education, as well as providing location management services through our technology which gives us ability to communicate with travellers when they experience an event.
Our approach is to empower our customers with the knowledge on how to use and understand the tools available to them and how we can leverage the findings from a medical, security and technical perspective to build a traveller centric TRM policy. As a result, business travellers are empowered to make informed decisions.
One of the best ways to start is with our ISO 31030 Mini Self-Assessment. This simple assessment allows you to evaluate the strength of your TRM program and how it aligns with the ISO 31030 framework.
The objective of the self-assessment is to confidently answer “Yes” to every question. If some questions were completed as “To Some Extent,” “No,” or “Unsure”, this could suggest potential gaps in your organisation’s travel policy, which could expose travellers to unnecessary health and safety risks.
Is your organisation’s TRM policy up to date?
Ready to review your organisation’s TRM policy? Watch the full replay of the ISO 31030: Travel Framework – Future Proof Tomorrow’s Risk’ here or book a complimentary 30 minute consultation with our team to get a better idea of what the ISO 31030 is and what it can do for you.
