Employer’s Duty of Care – Foreign Travel & Working

Employers owe a duty of care to employees who are travelling or working overseas.  It is essential to carry out a risk assessment before the trip commences.  The duty is to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the employee’s health, safety and welfare at work.  It also relates to any risk the employer can reasonably foresee.

What Should the Risk Assessment Cover?

The risk assessment should cover: geo-political turmoil; health hazards; terrain/location/travel options.

The duty of care cannot be delegated, although it may be appropriate to seek specialist assistance.

The risk assessment should not be a tick-box exercise, but should detail: where the employee is going; method of transport, including stop-overs; what work will be done, in what circumstances and conditions; and how long the trip will last.  Once risks are identified, the assessment should detail the steps taken to mitigate the risk and how any remaining risks will be addressed.  It may be necessary depending upon how many employees are working or how long the engagement lasts for the employer to have to inspect the site to satisfy its obligation.

An employee travelling to New York for a business trip, will be a different scenario to an employee travelling on a chartered airline, with a poor safety record to an undeveloped country.

The kind of issues that should be covered by foreign travel risk assessment typically include:

• disease and other particular medical concerns, including pandemic outbreaks (Zika, SARS, MERS, etc)
• personal fitness to travel
• immunisation/medication
• air/sea travel to destination
• accommodation
• manual handling (as regards both luggage and work equipment)
• specific safety issues or concerns regarding the proposed destination
• terrorism
• natural disasters
• medical emergency protocols
• biological hazards
• food poisoning
• document control
• any other specific risks related to the particular assignment.

Victoria Wright    |    01273 249277    |    vjw@deanwilson.co.uk