As managers and leaders in the security field, our first and most sacred responsibility is, of course, to provide for the safety of the people who fall within our areas of responsibility. As recent world events, from political unrest to natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, ash clouds and other events have shown, the unexpected can always present us with challenges in fulfilling our Duty of Care to our international travelers, expatriates and their dependents.
Add to these the usual threats of criminal activity, terrorism, medical emergencies and numerous other day-to-day pitfalls we face, and there can be no doubt as to the need for us to better understand the risks our people face when outside their home country. It’s also important that we know how best to evaluate and rate these risks, in order to be able to better communicate risk concerns to our colleagues in other departments who share in our Duty of Care responsibilities. This includes the C-Suite, medical, travel, risk management, human resources and legal, to name just a few. This understanding can also help us calibrate our response to risk for our travelers and expatriates.