Duty of care checklist for business travel

Items marked In TripDesk365 are ones TripDesk365 helps with today. The rest belong to your own process, and none of them needs any particular software. For every country's current State Department level, see our travel advisories page.

Before travel

• Name who is responsible for traveller safety, who approves trips, and who travellers call in an emergency, day or night.
• Check the US State Department advisory level for every destination country, and the advice of the traveller's own government if they hold another passport.
  In TripDesk365: Each booking shows the State Department level for every destination country, with the date the State Department last changed it.
• Decide which advisory levels need extra approval or a written risk assessment, for example Level 3 (Reconsider travel) and Level 4 (Do not travel).
• Approve trips before tickets are issued, so a risky or out-of-policy trip can be stopped before money is spent.
  In TripDesk365: A booking that breaks a policy rule requiring approval cannot be ticketed until a second person approves it.
• Check passport validity, visas, and entry and health requirements, including vaccinations, for each destination.
  In TripDesk365: Each destination on a booking links to the State Department page for that country, which covers entry rules for US passport holders.
• Keep a current profile for every traveller: name as on their passport, mobile number, emergency contact and passport expiry date.
  In TripDesk365: Each traveller has a profile with their contact details, emergency contact, Known Traveler Number and passport expiry, filled in from their bookings and offered again on the next one.
• Brief travellers on the risks where they are going: health, crime, transport, local laws and customs, and what to do if something goes wrong.
• Confirm that insurance covers medical treatment and evacuation abroad, and the destinations and activities planned.
• Ask travellers, in confidence, whether anything about the trip or their circumstances needs extra planning, such as a medical condition, accessibility needs, or how local laws may affect them.
• Give travellers their itinerary in a form they can use without a phone signal and share with family.
  In TripDesk365: The itinerary can be emailed to the travellers, added to a calendar, and shared as a private link.
• Book every trip through your agreed channel. A trip booked somewhere else is invisible to you in an emergency.

During travel

• Know at any time who is travelling, where they are going and where they are staying.
  In TripDesk365: A travel map shows travellers departing in the next 24 hours, in the air, or landed in the last 6 hours. Positions are live where flight data has them, and estimated from flight schedules otherwise.
• Watch for advisory changes in countries where you have travellers, or trips coming up.
  In TripDesk365: Staff who turn on browser alerts are told when the State Department raises its level for a country with trips in the next 60 days.
• Act quickly on flight disruption: a cancellation or a long delay can leave someone stranded overnight.
  In TripDesk365: When the live flight-data feed reports a cancellation, a delay of 90 minutes or more, or a diversion, or your team records one, the traveller and the person who booked are emailed, staff with browser alerts on are notified, and the operations team gets a work item.
• Make sure travellers have a 24-hour number that is answered, and test it.
• Agree check-in times for higher-risk trips, such as a message on arrival and each evening, and what happens if one is missed.

After an incident

• List everyone who may be affected: travellers in the area or due to travel there, with their contact numbers.
• Contact each of them, confirm they are safe, and record the time and the answer.
• Tell travellers clearly whether to stay, move or come home, and arrange help through your insurer or assistance provider: medical care, evacuation, rebooking or somewhere to stay.
• Keep families informed through one named person, and agree what is said to colleagues and to the press.
• Record every decision and cost as it happens.
  In TripDesk365: A recorded flight disruption stays open until a person acknowledges it with a resolution, and who did so is recorded.
• Offer support afterwards, including time off and counselling, and check on the traveller once they are home.
• Write up what happened, what worked and what you will change.

Programme review

• Review your travel policy and this checklist at least once a year, and after any serious incident.
• Check that trips were approved as your policy requires, and look at any that went ahead without approval.
  In TripDesk365: Every approval request and decision is recorded with who made it, when, and the reason given.
• Check that traveller profiles and emergency contacts are complete and up to date.
  In TripDesk365: A traveller's profile page says plainly when no emergency contact is recorded.
• Run a short exercise: can you list who is in a given city, and reach them, within an hour?
• Make sure new travellers and new approvers know the policy and who to call.

How TripDesk365 helps

TripDesk365 puts the State Department level for each destination on the booking, shows a travel map of who is departing, flying or has just landed (with live positions where flight data has them), and tells the traveller and your team when a flight is disrupted. Read more about duty of care in TripDesk365, or start your policy from our free travel policy template.