As world enterprise journey will increase, many firms nonetheless overlook the well being dangers tied to staff’ medical historical past. The Healix Threat Radar for 2024 survey revealed that solely 43% of threat and safety managers require medical disclosures earlier than approving worldwide journeys, leaving 57% of firms unprepared. This hole in threat administration exposes staff to preventable well being points and operational disruptions.
Why medical historical past issues
Whereas travellers typically analysis vaccinations, they not often contemplate how pre-existing circumstances, together with psychological well being points, might have an effect on them overseas. Opposite to in style opinion, most severe travel-related diseases stem from widespread well being issues like coronary heart assaults, strokes, and infections – not unique ailments. But many firms fail to include this into their threat planning.
Pre-existing circumstances resembling diabetes, coronary heart illness, and psychological well being issues can result in important journey disruptions if not managed correctly. Understanding an worker’s medical historical past helps firms plan, guaranteeing staff keep away from environments which may exacerbate their circumstances or lack satisfactory healthcare. As an illustration, sending somebody with a severe respiratory situation to a high-altitude vacation spot might show hazardous.
That is much more important for expatriate assignments, the place staff and their households relocate for prolonged durations. Think about an asthmatic worker despatched to a metropolis with excessive air pollution, like Beijing, or a household with a teen who has a historical past of great psychological well being points shifting to a rustic with restricted psychiatric care, resembling Japan. These dangers, if ignored, can result in pricey medical evacuations, operational disruptions, and even authorized liabilities.
The reluctance to mandate medical disclosure
Regardless of the dangers, many firms hesitate to require medical historical past disclosures. Considerations about privateness, potential discrimination claims, or the assumption that environmental and safety threats are the one important dangers could make organisations reluctant to look at staff’ private profile. Nonetheless, all too typically, medical-related emergencies – each bodily and psychological – might have been predicted and prevented.
Moderately than viewing medical historical past disclosure as a compliance burden, threat managers ought to see it as a proactive software for stopping problems. Pre-travel assessments might suggest vaccinations, prescriptions, or native healthcare entry tailor-made to the traveller’s wants. For these with advanced well being circumstances, together with psychological well being points, an in depth administration plan might be established, guaranteeing ongoing care and entry to remedy within the vacation spot nation.
Framing these precautions as a part of worker wellbeing, fairly than an invasion of privateness, encourages a tradition of security and care.
Balancing privateness and safety
A key problem is balancing privateness considerations with the necessity for cover. Corporations can safeguard staff’ privateness by limiting the scope of medical disclosures to related circumstances, guaranteeing confidentiality, and involving unbiased medical professionals within the evaluation. This strategy respects worker privateness whereas equipping the corporate with the data wanted to handle dangers successfully.
In the end, making medical historical past a regular a part of journey threat administration creates a extra resilient, knowledgeable strategy. Involving a third-party supplier resembling Healix permits delicate info to be dealt with with out sharing it straight with the employer. This ensures compliance whereas prioritising worker security.
Corporations that combine medical historical past into their threat administration processes make smarter selections about the place to ship staff and find out how to assist them. In flip, they cut back preventable disruptions and strengthen their obligation of care. The long-term payoff is fewer medical emergencies, decreased operational disruptions, and improved worker wellbeing, each bodily and mentally.
(Photograph copyright: Photograph by Frank Schrader on Pexels.)
