Keeping a Globally Mobile Workforce Safe in an Unsafe World What's Your Duty of Care?

September 12, 2011

Suzanne Garber
Chief Operating Officer, Americas Region, International SOS Assistance, Inc.

2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.

Lessons Learned from a volatile world!

17 February 22 February 13 January 20 February 24 January 14 February 17 March 19 March 19 February 5 March 11 March -

22 February

4 April

8 May

Tunisia

Egypt

Bahrain

Libya

Christchurch

Japan

Germany

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Duty of Care
Simply put, Duty of Care is a companys obligation to protect its employees from risks.
Saint-L Tribunal des affaires de scurit sociale
Employees working for a French company in Karachi, Pakistan were killed by a suicide bomber. French company was found to be negligent in failing to take necessary security measures in a geopolitical context of crisis.

Palfrey-v-Ark Offshore Limited

Enlow et al. v. Union Texas

Employee of UK company dies from Malaria contracted whilst on assignment in West Africa Court awarded damages for breach of Duty of Care despite employees knowledge of the risks and his failure to seek advice.

Survivors of an attack in Pakistan in which a number of employees were killed sued an oil company alleging breach of Duty of Care. Jury ruled against the complainants as the murder was not reasonably foresee-able and the employer has taken adequate safety precaution steps including hiring a private risk management firm.

Source: Duty of Care for Protecting International Assignees, their Dependents, and International Business Travelers, published by International SOS and written by Lisbeth Claus, Ph.D, SPHR, GPHR,

What is Duty of Care?

Individuals and organizations have legal obligations to act toward others and the public in a prudent and cautious manner to avoid the risk of reasonable foreseeable injury to others. Employers have an obligation for the health, safety, security and well-being of their employees. When employees cross borders for their work, the employers duty of care involves risk management extending beyond the usual health, safety and security imposed by the familiar environment in the home country.

Duty of Loyalty of employees

Employers Duty of Care Legal Review

Australia Belgium Canada France Germany Netherlands Spain United Kingdom United States & ILO European Union

Key Duty of Care Legal Issues

Great diversity in legislation Multiple legal systems involved for global workforce Many factors impact applicable law and jurisdiction Case law continues to refine and define Duty of Care obligations

Your Challenges

Lack of awareness among employers It is unlikely to happen to us attitude Unfamiliarity with legal duty of care issues Current focus on cost reduction Difficulty to take coordinated action because of multiple decision-

makers

How to bring it to the attention of the C-suite

Tip: Broaden the discussion from Travel Risk Management to include Duty of Care in order to get the C-suite involved

Decision-Maker Concerns
Senior Managers Line/Project Managers Corporate Security/Risk Managers Occupational H&S/Workers Compensation Managers PR/Communication Managers Travel Managers Medical Directors

Global HR Managers

Employees

health, safety, security

Legal Managers

and well-being

Insurance Managers

What are the major duty of care concerns for each decision-maker when an incident occurs?

Lessons Learned
1. The most important concern, common to all decision-makers, is the

health, safety and well-being of the employee.

2. The employer is being held accountable for a whole plethora of

situations that can happen to the international assignee, their

dependents and international business travelers.
3. Many employers are not aware of the extent of their duty of care

obligations.
4. Awareness is critical yet insufficient. 5. Compliance is complicated due to the diversity of laws (statutes and

case law) in different countries, jurisdiction and choice of law issues.

Lessons Learned (cont)

1. Employers duty of care obligations cannot be delegated. 2. Employers need focus both on compliance and

sustainable/responsible solutions.
3. Prevention far outweighs the costs of employee injury, death, and/or

litigation.
4. Assuming employers duty of care obligations requires a planned

and integrated risk management approach.

5. Employers should rely on experienced partners to help them meet

their duty of care obligations.

The Duty of Care and Travel Risk Management Global Benchmarking Study

2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.

 718 Respondents 628 Companies Worldwide

Dangerous locations
MEANING

Risks & threats Legal & moral responsibility

RESPONDENT

Awareness & ownership

ACTIVITIES

COMPANY

BENCHMARKING

Global 500
1 SCORE 8 STEPS 15 INDICATORS 100 PRACTICES

Function

Sector/ Industry

Level

Size

Geography

PURPOSE of GBS

HQ

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Duty of Care and Duty of Loyalty

Duty of Care is defined as a requirement that a person or organization acts towards others and the public with watchfulness, attention, caution and prudence in a manner that a reasonable person in the circumstance would. Duty of Loyalty is defined as the duty of an employee not to compete with the interest of the organization and follow the employers Duty of Care policies and procedures.

Duty of Care

Duty of Loyalty

Employers

Employees

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Copyright 2011, Lisbeth Claus, All Rights Reserved.

Duty of Care

Duty of Loyalty

Global HR is called upon to play a leading role in protecting the health, safety, security and wellbeing of employees.

2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.

5 TAKEAWAYS
1.

All countries are potentially dangerous

environmental context unfamiliarity employee profile & risky behavior

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Unique Risks
Global 500 GOV. ORG Industry

5 TAKEAWAYS
1. 2.

All countries are potentially dangerous for employees Organizations face unique risks but differ in how they cope with risks

NGO

Small vs. Large s. Large

Geography

Global 500

GOV. ORG

Industry Small vs. Large

NGO

Geography

DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE & RESPONSE

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5 TAKEAWAYS
1.

2.

3.

All countries are potentially dangerous for employees Organizations face unique risk challenges but differ in how they cope with similar risks Duty of care is not just about natural and human-made disasters

EFFECT
Illness & disease Lack of access to medical care Road & work accidents Travel-related problems

2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.

5 DUTY OF CARE TAKEAWAYS

1.
2.

3.

4.

All countries are potentially dangerous for employees Organizations face unique risk challenges but differ in how they cope with similar risk Duty of care is not just about natural and human-made disasters There is only average duty of care awareness

2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.

5 TAKEAWAYS
All countries are potentially dangerous for employees Organizations face unique risk challenges but differ in how they cope with similar risks Duty of care is not just about natural and human-made disasters There is only average duty of care awareness There are five key stakeholders but duty of care should be everyones responsibility

1. 2.

3.

4. 5.

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Stakeholder Awareness

HR

SR management

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5 RECOMMENDATIONS
1.

Increase awareness

HR

SR MGT

EMPLOYEE

2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.

5 RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Increase awareness
2.

Plan with key stakeholders

EVERYONE As is key stakeholders Should be stakeholders Employee HR

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5 RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Increase awareness 2. Plan with key stakeholders

Travel management policy

Travel reimbursement policy

Im Okay policy

3. Expand policies and procedures

Prohibited risky behaviors policy

Refuse to travel policy Transportation policy

Hotel & accommodation policy

Rest break policy

Travel restriction policy

Vendor due diligence policy

Other DOC policies

Sample Duty of Care Best Practice Policies

2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.

5 RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Increase awareness
2. Plan with key stakeholders 3. Expand policies and procedures 4. Conduct due diligence

Supply Chain Due Diligence

Partners

Subcontractors

Vendors

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5 RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Increase awareness 2. Plan with key stakeholders 3. Expand policies and procedures 4. Conduct due diligence 5. Communicate, educate, train
Deployment Strategy & Plan

Communication Education Training

Buy-in Behavior

2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.

Global HR is called upon to play a leading role in protecting the health, safety, security and well-being of employees.

Now more than ever, Global HR must take leadership responsibility for employer Duty of Care and employee Duty of Loyalty.

2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.

Dialogues on Duty of Care

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2011 AEA International Holdings Pte. Ltd. For permission to reprint contact International SOS.