Many companies are unaware that they have a legal obligation to fulfil their duty of care responsibilities for travelling employees.
Regardless of the business size and location, businesses are legally required to monitor employees and to provide proactive communication with employees during crisis events.
It’s amazing how many companies wouldn’t know what to do if their employee was involved in a crisis here or travelling for work overseas. Some employers don’t even have their employees’ next-of-kin details. This can be a big problem if the person is injured in the course of their work, and it can become even more complicated if the employee is overseas when it happens. Businesses must put in place a system or process that lets them track employees who are travelling for work, and contact them and their family at a moment’s notice if there is an incident.
The law states that employers must take “reasonable care” to avoid foreseeable risk or injury. This means when employees are travelling to a meeting or a taking a flight overseas for work, their employer is responsible for them.
Businesses should educate themselves about their legal obligation by understanding:
1. ways to keep all employees safe and informed, no matter where they are
2. how to meet their duty of care obligations for every employee, not just those who travel
3. lessons from real-life case studies
Technology has emerged as a key way for businesses to take a more active role in monitoring the safety of their employees. Real-time monitoring can help to draw a dynamic map which shows exactly where employees are going and if they’re going to be in harm’s way. Businesses need to understand their obligations and take steps to make fulfilling that duty of care simple, streamlined, and, most importantly, effective.
Matt Goss, ANZ Managing Director, Concur
