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FrontierMEDEX, which offers integrated security and medical solutions for travelers, offers these suggestions for companies sending employees to potentially hazardous parts of the world:
Avoid margin erosion. What might have seemed like a positive business venture may turn less positive when unexpected costs, possibly including armed guards and armored vehicles, must be added to the project costs. Being better informed about the risks can help protect profitability.
Use public information ... appropriately. Government organizations, such as the U.S. State Department, are often a good source of primary, high-level information. However, they may have different priorities than the security of an organization or their personnel who likely come from a variety of nations, Issues like trade status and strategic alliances could take precedence over the security needs of an individual or a business organization, which may not be a government's primary mission. A specialist provider of information on travel, by contrast, should be a business partner with a focus on providing information that is accurate and unbiased.
Look for recommendations ... not just data. A travel security consultant should be able to provide you with information you can act on, with recommendations on how to manage the risk in a way that allows your company to meet its business goals. Their goal should be to help your company make the right decisions.
No one lives in a bad neighborhood. While having people in a location to provide on the ground intelligence is a great resource, the reality can be that a threat to a traveler is not a threat to them. Additionally people are generally loath to talk about how their home may be a dangerous place. They know the danger areas and stay away from them. A visitor to that country most likely will not know what streets are dangerous at what time of day, or what customs and practices they bring could get them in trouble or offend someone. A good provider will offer information that does not carry the unintentional bias of local personnel, and recognizes the need to inform a traveler of threats locals may inadvertently not think of as important.
By Thomas L. Winn II, Senior Chief of Operations/Intelligence based in Houston, featured alongside an article by Jane Mills and Brian Griffin, Golder Associates in the Pipeline and Gas Journal - CUSTOMIZED SECURITY EASES WORK IN UNFAMILIAR AND DIFFICULT PLACES.
Please see our Intelligence Services page for more information on the security intelligence services FrontierMEDEX provides. |
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