The Spring Festival holiday is approaching, and domestic and foreign travel and transportation will usher in a peak. In response to the potential geopolitical and social unrest risks of outbound travel, health and safety risk service company International SOS issued a reminder, calling on enterprises to provide necessary health and safety support for employees and even employees' families, help employees and enterprises effectively manage travel risks, and ensure employee well-being and business operations.
According to the Ministry of Transport**, about 9 billion people will travel in China during the Spring Festival, visiting relatives and leisure, which may hit a record high. Data from relevant travel agencies and travel platforms also show that with the Spring Festival holiday approaching, outbound travel bookings have increased significantly compared with the same period last year, and are expected to usher in the first peak of outbound travel this year.
Inter-provincial and inter-regional travel will return during the Spring Festival holiday, especially ice and snow travel and cold travel are very popular**. Travelers should pay special attention to the extreme changes in the climate and wear appropriate clothing to protect against extreme weather such as cold waves. Dr. Li Xia, Medical Director of the International SOS Assistance Center, reminded that the northern hemisphere is in a period of high incidence of respiratory diseases, and travelers should take appropriate protective measures such as wearing masks and preparing necessary medicines. At the same time, enterprises can provide remote medical support services for employees, pay close attention to employees' anxiety, burnout and other mental health problems after holidays and return to work, and respond to the needs of mental health resilience construction in a timely manner.
There are still some common safety risks to consider when traveling during the holidays. In travel and crowded locations, problems such as scams and petty theft tend to be more prominent. Yingyan Zhang, Senior Manager of Travel Security at International SOS, reminded that to prepare for possible emergencies, organizations should emphasise the importance of preparing and maintaining situational awareness to their employees. At the same time, a clear internal communication mechanism is established to ensure that security emergencies can be reported quickly and provided in a timely manner.
International SOS recommends that to prevent common diseases and prevent accidental injuries, traffic regulations, road conditions, weather, driving habits vary from country to country, so it is necessary to understand traffic conditions and weather forecasts in advance, and pay attention to road safety. It is necessary to pay attention to extreme weather, the probability of large-scale cold waves in winter in the northern hemisphere has been greatly increased, and the summer vacation in the southern hemisphere has arrived, and some countries have frequent heavy rains and even extreme weather.
International SOS reminds you to respect the local customs and traditions of your destination, especially when visiting religious sites, dress appropriately and avoid activities that may be considered offensive. Outbound passengers should pay close attention to the risk of infectious diseases in their destinations, especially the risk of dengue fever, malaria and Zika virus transmission, and understand the local medical resources. At the same time, be careful to avoid travel to destinations of social unrest and avoid high-risk areas.
Take care to protect personal information during your trip, especially in public places. Use a secure Wi-Fi network to avoid the transmission of sensitive information over unsecured networks and prevent possible online fraud. At the same time, keep your itinerary flexible, keeping departure and return dates and routes as flexible as possible.
International SOS reminds you to ensure that you stay in touch with your business during your trip so that you can respond and communicate quickly in the event of an emergency. At the same time, companies need to develop contingency plans and work with professional health and safety risk management agencies to ensure that reliable, timely and actionable insights and information are available to provide necessary health and safety support to employees and their families during the holidays.
*: Economic news client.