How hotels and employers should prepare for disasters

There are multiple security layers that firms should lay out for their employees’ safety.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, causing businesses to suffer the consequences they were not prepared for. This has taught businesses a lesson on how to take their contingency plans up a notch. But what are these firms doing wrong in terms of preparedness and what can they do to be well-prepared after things go back to normal?

Singapore Business Review spoke with Aditya Luthra, security director for the Asia Pacific Region in International SOS, to know more on what companies can do for staff going on business trips, as well as how hotels can do their part.

Luthra says that geopolitical risks are expected to escalate due to increased terrorist activity globally, upcoming elections worldwide and its associated instabilities, and increasing tensions between sovereigns.

Climate change is also expected to exacerbate the occurrence of environmental disruptions, which will impact business operations in various ways. Luthra noted that climate change is one factor for why infectious disease outbreaks are expected, apart from increasing urbanisation and diminishing vaccination coverage. With the pandemic, this prediction has already actualised, highlighting the importance of having preparation and response plans in place.

The hospitality sector carries a huge responsibility to make sure their visitors are safe. What can hotels or serviced residences in Singapore do to achieve this?

Three of security risks are particularly relevant for business travellers staying at hotels in medium to high risk areas: risks borne from geopolitical shifts, cybercrime, and infectious disease outbreaks.

When assessing the capacity of hotels to make sure that their guests are safe from these threats, we look at several external indicators that provide context to the location’s overall safety, such as political stability, crime, terrorism, social unrest and natural disasters.

We then assess a set of critical factors within the hotel, such as the hotel profile, vicinity, surveillance, and room security. These factors help us understand how well prepared these accommodations are in protecting their guests.

The first line of defence is to have access to accurate information, intelligence and assessments about potential risks.

To safeguard against cybersecurity threats, hotels should consider a specialised IT security team to protect customer data as well as segregate data storage. This is to ensure that telecommunications channels are not linked to critical data, such as payment details and other personal information of hotel guests.

In preparing for infectious disease outbreaks, it is important to introduce a clear protocols to
safeguard public safety.

Hotels in Singapore and around the world have undertaken good measures to address the COVID-19 outbreak. Some of the best practices include comprehensive contact tracing, the limitation of the capacity of hotels, ensuring segregation between hotel guests to minimise potential exposure.

How can they prepare for threats such as terrorism, protests, natural disasters and infectious diseases?

There are two layers of preparation that hotels need to implement to respond to threats like terrorism, protests, natural disasters, and infectious diseases.

The first is its own security protocols, which need to be updated frequently and communicated to all staff. We recommend our clients to start with a full risk assessment, to ensure that their security systems and operations are appropriate to the risks in their location.

In locations with a higher risk of threats like civil unrest or terrorism, business hotels run by internationally recognised companies represent easier targets than government and military buildings, due to their prominence and the daily human traffic. With the high risk of such threats, these accommodations must have higher assurance standards than other forms of accommodation.

Once the base layer of security has been established, this can be reinforced with emergency response protocols. These measures must be tested regularly, and hotels need to ensure that staff are very familiar with the protocols. Many hotels also have in place an alternative power supply or telecommunications systems to access basic communications functions during smaller scale disruptions.

On the employer side, can you elaborate how employers are adjusting to these risks?

Many employers are recognising that they cannot afford to lose sight of their Duty of Care to their people, in their pursuit of global opportunities.

To strengthen their resilience and business continuity in the face of risks, employers are increasingly adopting these fundamentals of a robust risk management programme for their workforce:

• Proactive identification and mitigation of risks
• Prepare and educate their employees for such risks
• Having the ability to communicate and track the whereabouts of their mobile workforce in the event of an incident like a terrorist attack
• Develop effective emergency plans to respond to crises

Could you share some good emergency plans that employers have laid out to employees on business travel that you would recommend to others?

Constant communication with employees whilst they travel helps to mitigate some of the risks, so we advise our clients to provide their travelling workforce with 24/7 medical and security services via our Assistance Centres and network on the ground. This allows them to identify and locate their employees who might be at risk while travelling, and helps to keep the organization fully informed on actions to take.

Employees should also be provided with a wide range of information and advice, both before and during travel, to assess their immediate needs for assistance. Our clients have made this available to their employees with our support, so they can make informed decisions on hotel selection, medical and security risks, and safety tips for the duration of the stay.

Finally, travelling employees should have a pre-prepared comprehensive communication plan, including a lost-communication procedure, which is critical in ensuring timely communications. Critically, these organisations recognise that they have a golden hour to identify affected employees and communicate with them using multiple modes of communication. They must be able to identify their location, their physical and mental status, their immediate needs, and assess if they require emergency assistance.

Cybersecurity remains a huge issue in Singapore. What initiatives have employers implemented for business travellers?

To protect the cyber safety of their travelling employees, organisations have advised employees to take charge of their own cyber safety before, during and after their trip. Simple measures include ensuring that software on devices are up to date and enabling multi-factor authentication for online accounts, prior to travelling. One of the common pitfalls that come with the advent of social media is the oversharing of personal information such as whereabouts of residence and typical daily activities.

It is key for business travellers to run anti-virus scans to remove any trace of potential malware.

A congruent approach involving the management and employees is key in thwarting any potential data compromise. Whilst a company’s technical defences and systems remain critical, the company should work with their employees on the appropriate training and preparedness programmes, to ensure that they are fully equipped to mitigate any threat in the digital domain.

In light of the pandemic, what have they provided for their employees who got stuck in a foreign country?

Some organisations have already carefully evaluated and decided on the essential staff who have to remain in-country. Other organisations are in the midst of making these decisions, whilst there are still some government-supported options available, although this window is also closing fast.

When deciding whether it is best for staff and dependants to remain in-country or to relocate, organisations should carefully review their ability to work with the restrictions, directives and mitigation measures of the authorities, such as access to communications, ability to procure basic goods and services, access to quality medical care staff member’s pre-existing medical conditions, nature of the overall infrastructure and security environment in the location, and the ability to remain in place for an extended period.

For organisations with staff who have to remain in-country, many are providing such support in partnership with solution providers. Some of these are 24/7 access to health and security guidance and assistance, access to a mental health professional counsellor for emotional support, arrangements for their international assignees to reside in a secure location and for essential supplies to be dropped off at assignees’ residences in environments where there are secondary security threats.