For companies sending employees overseas there are a
series of controls that need to be put in place to reduce
travel associated health risks, explains The Well
Travelled Clinic
Employers have a responsibility to
ensFor companies sending employees overseas there are a
series of controls that need to be put in place to reduce
travel associated health risks, explains The Well
Travelled Clinic
Employers have a responsibility to
ensure the health, safety and
security of their workforce
overseas, which includes ensuring that
they are adequately covered with
vaccinations and anti-malarial tablets
before they go. This responsibility is
known as the employer's "Duty of Care."
Working in developing countries is far
more challenging than working in the
developed world. Staff get sick more
easily, they are not used to the
temperature and there is a tendency for
expatriate workers to take risks that they
would not normally take at home.
Ensuring that your staff see a professional
travel advisor before they go helps to
prepare them for the risks of working
abroad and ensure that they understand
the chances of developing infectious
diseases in a tropical environment. Pretravel
medicals help to identify problems
before staff are sent overseas, in case there
are underlying health problems that the
person is not aware of.
Companies need to develop their own
international travel policy if starting to
send workers overseas. Although travel
policies will always contain information
regarding cost effective methods and class
of travel and accommodation, the most
significant section of any good travel
policy must relate to protecting health
overseas. In order to reduce risks from
deploying workers overseas, as part of the
organisation's travel policy, employers
have a responsibility to carry out a
thorough general risk assessment which
includes looking at the reason for travel
and whether the desired outcome could
be achieved without travelling and
identifying potential threats and risks at
the destination.
A series of controls needs to be put in
place to reduce travel associated risks.
These should include:
A specific travel risk assessment should
be carried out by an appropriate health
care professional to ensure that the staff
member receives adequate advice
regarding staying healthy abroad,
things that they can do to reduce their
chances of getting sick and also to
receive any recommended vaccinations
and anti-malarial drugs
Staff should also be issued with
appropriate kit for their trip (such as
mosquito nets and repellents if
travelling to a malarial area)
Before travel, all employees should be
adequately briefed regarding political,
economic and cultural issues and
health, safety and security within the
destination country. Country
information sheets should be prepared
and regularly updated on each
destination that the company travels to
Members of staff going on an overseas
journey for work purposes must ensure
that they are familiar with your
company's travel insurance
arrangements for medical emergencies
and personal loss. Each member of staff
should be issued with insurance contact
details in the event of a medical
emergency
For staff who travel regularly overseas,
or who are deployed for long periods,
who whose work activities are
considered high-risk (engineering, gas
and oil etc.), employers need to
consider pre-departure medicals to
ensure that the staff member is fit to
deploy. Post travel screening and
check-ups may also be required for
these staff
Specialist travel services such as Well
Travelled Clinics, the specialist Travel
clinic company of the Liverpool School of
Tropical Medicine can provide
professional travel health advice.
The advice given to travelling
employees will depend on: the type of
accommodation they are staying in; how
long the trip is; exactly where they will be
going on that trip (city only or travelling
around), as well as the type of work that
they will be doing. Travel health care
professionals will also check whether the
employee is travelling on elsewhere after
the business trip as this may also affect the
advice given.
The advice for people who travel
frequently, or for long periods, or at short
notice will differ from that given to people
making a one-off short trip. Well
Travelled Clinics are used to dealing with
the particular needs of business travellers
and can offer additional services to
companies such as pre-travel medicals
and post-travel screening. We can also
provide records for occupational health
departments and give telephone advice
and support to companies on planning
for new trips or overseas postings.
All of WTC's profits are reinvested
into research and development within
LSTM. By purchasing your vaccines,
tablets and travel products from us you
are supporting the work we do to control
diseases of poverty and to develop more
effective systems for health care in the less
developed countries in the tropics and
sub-tropics.
