Travel risk management policy

If you’re an organization whose employees travel for business, you’ll need to complete travel risk assessments as part of your duty of care obligation. However, you’ll also need to create a travel risk management policy, too. 

Use this guide to walk you through everything you need to know about how to create your own travel risk management policy template that keeps your employees safe, and helps you remain compliant.

What should be included in a travel risk management policy template?

Each business will need to customize their policies to suit their business. However, an effective travel risk management policy is made up of the following six sections:

1. Policy scope
2. Roles and responsibilities 
3. Planning and approving travel
4. Travel risk assessment 
5. Incident reporting and traveler support 
6. Insurance 

Section 1: Policy scope

Just like your overarching company's travel policy and procedure, you’ll need to set out the reasoning behind your travel risk management policy. 

The policy scope section should cover the need for risk assessments, including your duty of care obligations, the need to ensure the safety of traveling employees, and the identification and mitigation of risks associated with any planned business trip. 

Section 2: Roles and responsibilities 

Your travel risk management policy will also need to clarify who is responsible for the travel risk management policy. This should include individuals, relevant departments, and any other stakeholders. These individuals and departments will be directly responsible for ensuring that the policy is enforced. 

This section will also explain the responsibilities of employees during business trips, and the responsibilities of senior, line, and travel managers, both post and pre-trip. 

Section 3: Planning and approving travel 

This section is incredibly important and should be as detailed as possible. Its function is to outline which issues managers and employees seeking to plan a business trip need to consider. 

This includes evaluating whether the employee is traveling to a high-risk destination, and should include an assessment of the following: 

• Any political instability in the region
• Potential for natural disasters
• General security concerns in the region
• Regional endemic diseases 
• Entry requirements (particularly since the Coronavirus outbreak)

On top of this, a traveler risk profile will need to be formulated in order to protect the traveling employee from any risks associated with their LGBTQ, religious, or gender profile.

Then, the steps for travel approval will need to be documented, including who signs off and approves any potential business travel. 

Our TravelCare solution allows organizations to access the latest travel data for the countries that employees will be visiting. TravelCare provides updates before, after, and during employee travel, and alerts you and employees about: 

• Any travel restrictions in place
• Issues with transport (air traffic control strikes, for example)
• The transmission rates of COVID-19 in the area

Armed with this information, you’re enabled to both plan ahead and make the best choices when it comes to managing risk while traveling. 

Section 4: Travel risk assessment 

The goal of travel risk assessments is to identify any threats business travelers could encounter whilst on a business trip. Since travel risk levels are in a state of constant flux, travel risk assessments should cover all potential risks an employee could face during international travel, and should be completed before each and every trip. 

A travel risk assessment should include: 

• The health of the traveling employee. Does the employee face any medical risks? Do they require any medical care during the trip?  
• The traveler’s profile, including their gender and religion, and whether these factors place them at a higher risk in the destination country
• The travel patterns the employee will take, including their travel itinerary and how this will impact them 
• The procedures the traveler should follow in case of travel and/or hotel cancellations
• Any high-risks associated with the country and environment the employee will travel to, including any illness and disease present, natural disasters, and crime rates. 

Section 5: Incident reporting and traveler support 

Your travel risk policy should also include your organization’s responsibility to the traveler should they face any issues during their business travel. It should also outline how the employee can access support. 

This section should include phone numbers, an emergency contact, and any other information that the traveler can use to access help or assistance. It should also outline how the traveler should report any incidents that occur during the business trip, and how the organization will execute crisis management.

TravelPerk’s Customer Care service is available 24/7, 365 days of the year to assist travelers who need immediate support. With a 15 second response time and access to real humans instead of bots, travelers can rest easy knowing that their needs can be taken care of urgently and efficiently. 

Section 6: Insurance 

This section should address exactly what and what will not be covered by your travel insurance. It should be incredibly explicit and make it easy for the employee to understand exactly what items and events are insured, how they should report any losses or incidents, and how to make insurance claims. 

For example, if the insurance coverage protects against theft or damage to mobile devices, you need to make it clear whether the policy applies to only company-issued devices, or whether the employee can make a claim against their personal devices. Or, if the employee is required to hire a vehicle, it should spell out what kind of insurance they need to take out at the point of hire.