Travel Risk Management (ISO 31030)

Approach

ISO 31030:2021 applies the risk management process of ISO 31000 to business travel. The guidance is aimed at organisations of any size, is drafted as a guidance standard and does not provide for certification; it serves as a reference for designing a travel risk management programme. The starting point is a travel policy adopted by top management with roles, responsibilities and approval processes. This is followed by a risk assessment per trip or travel profile: destination country, healthcare provision, security situation, means of transport, accommodation, activity on site and personal factors of the travellers. Treatment follows a hierarchy – avoidance (not travelling, virtual alternatives), reduction (route selection, security briefings, vaccinations, vetted accommodation), transfer (insurance, assistance contracts) and conscious acceptance of the residual risk. Operational elements are pre-travel briefings, traveller tracking with reachability, communication channels, crisis and emergency management, and post-trip review of the programme.

Success factors

Travel risk management is effective only if booking, approval and tracking are linked in one process, high-risk trips require a documented individual approval and travellers know the rules. Responsibility lies with line management, not with travel management or insurance alone. Regular exercises of the crisis organisation and the evaluation of incidents keep the programme current.

Insurance relevance

For business travel underwriters, a programme aligned with ISO 31030 is a mark of quality: it reduces the frequency and severity of evacuations and medical expense claims, improves the data on travel exposure and is a precondition for endorsements covering crisis zones, which wordings such as ERV’s grant only after risk assessment. At the same time it evidences fulfilment of the employer’s duty of care.