ISO 31030 travel risk management – UK, US and French approaches
Now that the world has begun to re-open, we might occasionally catch ourselves remembering lockdowns and Friday night country risk categorisations as a thing of the past. Over the past two years, we have seen planes grounded, the hospitality industry brought to its knees, and holidays and overseas travel for work cancelled. As corporate travel increases again, so too do the risks associated with it.
Corporates in particular must be keenly aware of the implications and complications arising from travel risk when sending employees abroad for work related purposes. To make this journey easier, a global benchmark for travel risk management has been published to help corporates navigate a plethora of travel related issues. ISO 31030 was released in September 2021 to complement the general ISO 31000 Risk Management Standard, providing a framework of good practice.
To unpack the key themes and potential implications discussed in the ISO, Peters & Peters, along with travel risk management specialist Global Secure Accreditation, have partnered with Dartevelle, Dubest, Bellanca & Associés in Paris and Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason & Anello PC in New York, to produce three distinct papers to help corporates understand the ISO’s potential impact on employer travel security obligations and liabilities in the context of existing UK, French and US law.
Understanding ISO 31030 will help corporates who require their employees to travel to consider the extent to which they are meeting the duty of care owed to their employees and others in the context of travel.
The UK approach
Key points explored in the UK paper are:
– The potential civil, regulatory, and criminal legal implications that may affect a corporate when an employee or other person suffers harm, injury or death connected with work-related travel.
– The potential for action by regulators and public authorities.
– The importance of proportionate, periodically reviewed and monitored compliance policies and procedures to help to mitigate risk and assist in response when incidents occur.
“ISO standards could have a variety of potential evidential implications in civil and criminal proceedings. Companies
that send employees on UK or foreign travel will want to ensure travel security risk management policies are reviewed
and enforced in accordance with ISO 31030.”
Andrew Wallis, Of Counsel, Peters & Peters
The French approach
Key points explored in the French paper are:
– Potential French civil and criminal legal implications that may affect an employer in the event of an employee suffering harm.
– An examination of an employer’s duty under French law, Article L.4121-1, paragraph 1 of the Labour Code.
– The impact of an employer’s compliance with ISO 31030 on the assessment of an employer’s liability.
– The importance of ISO compliant procedures to help prevent potential health and safety hazards.
“If the ISO standards relating to risk prevention are
expressly adopted as a reference for assessing possible failures by companies to meet their obligations, compliance with these standards could enable an employer to exempt itself from liability.”
Frédéric Bellanca, Partner (left) and Fabrice Dubest, Partner,
Dartevelle Dubest Bellanca
The US approach
Key points explored in the US paper are:
– The potential US civil, regulatory, and criminal legal implications that may affect a corporation if harm is sustained by an employee or another person in a work-related travel context.
– The options and defences available to employers in these situations.
– How compliance with the ISO standard can have potential evidential implications in civil and criminal proceedings.
– The interplay between the ISO, US tort law, US contract law, and worker’s compensation laws.
“Since the ISO 31030 is an Industry Standard developed by experienced international experts, adherence to this provision could be beneficial in demonstrating that a business has assessed and managed overseas accommodation risks to the highest possible benchmark.”
Ben Fischer, Partner, Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello PC
Before you go…
As we begin to re-discover our global community after two years of turbulence, never before has the need to understand, plan for, and mitigate travel risk been quite so vital.
We hope that the papers in this series are helpful to those with the difficult responsibility for organising corporate travel affairs and those responsible for the associated legal and compliance risks.
For further information please do not hesitate to contact us.
