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Business Travel

Building an Effective Travel Risk Management Plan: A Focus on Ground Transportation

Nov 27, 2024
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As an employer, you have a duty of care obligation to assess and mitigate risk for any staff required to travel for work.

And if you’re like most businesses in Europe, you’ll facilitate this through a clear and well-considered travel risk management (TRM) plan, as recommended by the ISO 31030 standard.

But it’s worth asking: How much space does your TRM plan give to ground transportation?

In a new survey by FREENOW in partnership with Global Business Traveller Association (GBTA), we learned that while the majority (85%) of companies do have a travel risk management plan in place, only about half (55%) say their company’s policies “always” or “often” cover ground transportation risks.


Here’s why last-mile transportation should be a primary focus of your company’s travel risk management plan and how to make the necessary changes to keep business travellers safe.


Why your travel risk management plan must cover ground transportation


Studies have shown that last-mile travel is statistically the least safe part of any business trip. However, business travellers aren’t always aware of this risk, and not all corporate travel safety policies cover ground transportation adequately.


The majority of business travellers we surveyed incorrectly cited air or rail as more dangerous than ground transport.

In every country we surveyed (Ireland, Spain, Germany and the UK), more than 90% of business travellers said they were comfortable with the measures their company has in place to ensure the safety of ground transport.


However, speaking to travel managers about their TRMs told a different story.

Only about half (55%) of travel managers said their company corporate travel safety policies “always” or “often” cover ground transport.


As an employer, adapting your TRM so it prioritises ground transportation is the most effective risk management strategy you can take.


How to bring last mile transport into your TRM


Include ground transportation in risk profile analysis


Conducting an analysis of your company’s ‘risk profile’ is recommended by the ISO 31030 safety standard. Therefore, it’s not surprising that most of the travel managers we surveyed (63%) said they include risk profile analysis in their TRM.


However, only two in five (41%) “always” or “often” include ground transport risks in this analysis. And while 79% of travel managers told us they require pre-trip approvals for business trips, a substantial 31% of them said they never or rarely include ground transportation in these approvals.


Make ground transport a focus of trainings and briefings


Our data also revealed that less than half (48%) of travel programs that practice incident response, rehearse how they would respond to ground transport incidents – even though these are the incidents business travellers are statistically most likely to experience.


62% also said their company conducts regular safety trainings for business travel, but 35% of those said that training only sometimes, rarely, or never, cover ground transport.


Bringing ground transportation into these processes is a big practical leap that will bring your TRM plan more in line with the realities of travelling for work.


Provide strong guidelines on booking transport


Providing clear guidelines on the last-mile transport booking process in your travel management plan is an excellent way to assure the safety of your business travellers.


For example, you can mandate booking transport through specific managed corporate channels and/or recommend taxis over rental cars or PHVs. In the survey, travel managers cited taxis as the safest third-party ground transportation option.


Fewer than half of travel programmes (43%) “always” or “often” mandate booking ground transport through specific channels.


Track last-mile journeys through traveller tracking software


Missing last mile data means it can be difficult to recognise—and intervene—when employees are using unsafe ground transport or to locate employees in an emergency.


Some taxi and ride-hailing technology platforms allow companies to track employee rides, and will provide reporting that allows you to analyse travel patterns and identify potential safety concerns.


In our survey, we found that only a quarter of travel managers (24%) say their company can “always” or “often” track travelling employees using last mile data.


Mandating through your TRM that employees book ground transport with preferred vendors that the company has an official relationship with will keep staff safe and provide the data you need to keep risk to a minimum.


Learn how FREENOW can be that business travel software partner your business needs.


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