Ferma Forum 2013: Businesses must improve duty of care to staff in complex political risk landscape

Global businesses must address their duty of care where social, political and economic tensions expose employees to complex threats beyond the spectre of natural hazards, according to Alert: 24 head of intelligence and author of Willis’ new report Duty of care in a complex threat landscape Tim Holt.

The report published at the Ferma Forum, outlines a fundamental need for “awareness and understanding of the social, political and economic” situation regarding the duty of care and management of risks to employees, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East.

Holt explores key threats such as kidnap and extortion, political violence, terrorism and cyber extortion, and why they pose such a threat to business.

Ahead of the launch of the report, he says: “The understanding of these threats with intent to introduce preventative or mitigation measures is complex but critical to the management of risks to a company’s people and the transparent and certain maintenance of their duty of care.”

He explains how political tensions can amplify these risks and have an impact on business in developing economies that are “situated within fragile state structures”, adding that “distant and seemingly irrelevant events can have a crippling knock-on effect along the supply chain and may strike with little or no warning”.

Holt further says that the two main risks to businesses include “threats to the security of people or business activity” shaped by the environment in which they work, and secondly, “the people themselves,” whose activity, behaviour and relationship within the immediate community can increase the threat exposures.