Following the shocking terrorist activities in Paris last week and the now increased threat level to security in many countries and major cities – including the UK – now would seem like a good time to review your organisation’s Travel Risk Management Programme.

And if your organisation hasn’t yet deployed an effective plan then maybe now is the time to prioritise it.

Many companies have implemented traveller tracking solutions either through their travel management company or by partnering with a third-party vendor.

Many of these solutions are just pre-trip reporting solutions which, while useful, do little to actually protect travellers.

They are largely used after an incident occurs to see who might be impacted.

These tools do not provide true “traveller tracking”. What they in fact provide is “traveller scheduling”. How do you monitor where a traveller is when not at the airport, on the aircraft or at the hotel or office?

As a minimum, organisations should ensure the following are in place:

An overall crisis management plan and emergency response plan is imperative. The key here is to plan now so you don’t have to react later.

Ensure employees and management are prepared and knowledgeable on what is expected of them during an emergency.

Keep travellers informed of additional requirements at airports such as early check in and any new security measures.

In an emergency employees should have an easy-to-use process for seeking assistance.

Identify higher risk locations. Additional attention needs to be paid to these trips in terms of secure ground transport, careful hotel selection, etc.

Remember, legal imperatives such as duty and standard of care make it nearly impossible for an organisation not to address these issues as they hold businesses liable for not doing everything “reasonably practical” to protect the health and safety of employees.