Use New Code of Practice to Protect Your Workers When Travelling Abroad

You already know that your company has a duty to take steps to protect the health and safety of its workers in your workplace. But if your workers must travel and do their jobs in other countries, you also need to take appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety of these workers, too. Workers who travel face various safety risks’from petty crime, vehicular accidents and falling ill to terrorism, natural disasters and pandemics such as Ebola.

In fact, a recent Ipsos Global Advisor study found that 8 in 10 travellers have felt their personal safety could be threatened while abroad and 71% of senior executive travellers had experienced a medical problem while abroad. And an analysis of international business travel found that nearly 1 in 3 trips abroad are to countries with a higher medical or security risk rating than the travellers’ home country.

That’s why BSI recently published a new code of practice that advises organizations on how to address and manage the health, safety and security risks posed to their employees who are travelling for work.

PAS 3001:2016 Travelling for work ‘ Responsibilities of an organization for health, safety and security ‘ Code of Practice offers organizations recommendations on:

  • How to develop, implement and evaluate issues such as travel safety, health and security policy;
  • Threat and hazard identification;
  • Risk assessment;
  • Prevention strategies;
  • Incident management, including arrangements for mitigation and response; and
  • Communications and accountability arrangements.

PAS 3001 can be used by any organization with travellers, whether they’re workers, volunteers or contractors, subcontractors or students. The code of practice may be used on its own or integrated into an existing health and safety management system.

For more advice on protecting Canadian workers when they’re abroad, read these 10 tips and learn about online tracking tools or services you can use to locate and contact workers in emergencies when relying on cell phone service may not be possible or sufficient.