Duty of Care
An employer's legal and ethical responsibility to guarantee the safety, health, and wellbeing of employees during business travel.
Duty of care in the context of corporate travel refers to an organisation's obligation to protect its traveling employees from reasonably foreseeable risks and to provide appropriate support when incidents occur. This encompasses pre-travel risk assessment, access to travel insurance and emergency assistance services, real-time communication of safety advisories, and clear protocols for responding to medical emergencies, natural disasters, or political unrest. It covers both domestic and international travel scenarios, and extends to force majeure events and flight delays that strand travelers. Failure to meet duty of care obligations can expose organizations to substantial legal liability and reputational damage. Most corporate travel programmes incorporate duty of care tools and partners to track traveler locations and respond to emergencies.
Why it matters
Failing to meet duty of care obligations exposes organizations to legal liability, regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and — most critically — genuine harm to employees who travel on the company's behalf. Duty of care is not merely a compliance exercise; it is a foundational expression of the organisation's relationship with its employees. Travel programmes that build duty of care into their operating model — through risk assessment, traveler tracking, and emergency protocols — deliver meaningful protection to their people. This obligation is especially acute for international travel, where travelers may be unfamiliar with local hazards and further from organizational support.
How it works in practice
Effective duty of care programs combine several elements: pre-trip risk assessment based on destination risk ratings, traveler communication about local threats and entry requirements via travel advisory monitoring, real-time location tracking through booking data and travel alerts, a 24-hour emergency assistance line, and an evacuation or repatriation capability for serious incidents. When travelers hold complete traveler profiles in the booking system — including emergency contacts, passport details, and medical information — the organisation can locate and assist them rapidly in a crisis. For events that go beyond individual incidents, such as force majeure situations, pre-planned mass communication and evacuation protocols are activated through the TMC partnership.
The takeaway
Duty of care starts with knowing where your travellers are. Organizations that cannot locate employees in a crisis — because travel data is fragmented across multiple booking channels and systems — are exposed. A fully managed travel program with a single booking channel and integrated traveler tracking delivers the visibility needed to respond when it matters most. The combination of comprehensive traveler profiles, proactive risk assessment, travel insurance coverage, and 24-hour emergency support closes the duty of care loop for every trip.