Pyramid Temi Group, BonelliErede e Ambimed: una partnership d’eccezione per la compliance aziendale alla UNI ISO 31030
Pyramid Temi Group (PTG), società consolidata di Travel Risk Management, BonelliErede, law firm leader in Italia nei servizi legali e fiscali, e Ambimed, azienda specializzata in servizi di Business Travel Medicine per la tutela della salute dei dipendenti ovunque nel mondo, hanno dato vita ad una partnership d’eccezione per garantire la conformità delle aziende alla norma UNI ISO 31030 sulla gestione dei rischi, prima, durante e dopo il viaggio.
La collaborazione è nata con l’obiettivo comune di unire le diverse risorse e offrire qualità e innovazione ai propri clienti che possono beneficiare della pluriennale esperienza e del know-how di PTG, unica azienda italiana coinvolta nello sviluppo della UNI ISO 31030, della consolidata expertise di BonelliErede nella consulenza e assistenza legale alle aziende e della competenza di Ambimed negli ambiti della prevenzione e della formazione applicate al business travel.
L’esigenza di lanciare sul mercato un servizio di compliance negli ambiti della salute e della sicurezza in viaggio d’affari è sorta conseguentemente alla pubblicazione della UNI ISO 31030, che illustra le linee guida per una corretta gestione di tutti i rischi connessi alle trasferte del personale aziendale, ma che non è attualmente certificabile.
PTG, BonelliErede e Ambimed sono concordi nell’affermare quanto sia importante poter offrire alle organizzazioni un’attestazione della conformità ai principi della norma, che costituisca evidenza di operazioni e procedure svolte nel pieno rispetto delle buone pratiche stabilite dall’ISO e, più in generale, l’adempimento al Duty of Care da parte del datore di lavoro.
L’iter di compliance è stato studiato e sviluppato dai professionisti di PTG e BonelliErede e dai medici specialisti di Ambimed in maniera rigorosamente tailor made, e prevede una valutazione della conformità rispetto alle linee guida UNI ISO 31030, l’individuazione delle attività necessarie e opportune rispetto alle esigenze specifiche, e indicazioni di miglioramento da mettere in atto.
“Dopo la pubblicazione della UNI ISO 31030, con questo progetto di compliance allo Standard, siamo nuovamente pionieri nel mettere un ulteriore punto fermo in ambito Travel Security” afferma Roger Warwick, CEO di PTG e rappresentante UNI presso il Comitato Tecnico Internazionale UNI ISO 31030 Travel Risk Management. “Sono molto orgoglioso di questa partnership. La vasta esperienza di PTG, BonelliErede e Ambimed nei rispettivi settori di competenza ci consente di proporre alle aziende un prodotto autorevole oltre che di qualità, che le aziende possono eventualmente utilizzare in sede giudiziale a dimostrazione del proprio impegno e operato per la tutela dell’incolumità del proprio personale”.
Secondo Enrico Vergani, partner e leader del Focus Team Shipping, Transport & Logistics di BonelliErede: “Il servizio che rendiamo intercetta esigenze certamente precedenti alla pubblicazione dello Standard UNI ISO 31030, ma che hanno trovato oggi uno strumento efficiente per la verifica e il controllo delle procedure e della policy adottata in azienda. Un esercizio da condurre unitamente a professionisti con esperienza specifica sui temi della travel security, della gestione del rischio e della salute in viaggio, con un approccio personalizzato ed incrementale, a tutela dei lavoratori, dell’azienda e dei valori che esprime e quale strumento di crescita e razionalizzazione dei processi in un ambiente sempre più complesso e strutturato”.
“Quella con PTG e BonelliErede è una partnership prestigiosa e sottolinea il valore e l’eccellenza del servizio” dichiara Alessandro Perone, Chief Operating Officer & Partner di Ambimed. “Con la Business Travel Medicine, nata dall’esperienza maturata nella Medicina dei Viaggi e dall’incontro di questa disciplina con la Medicina del Lavoro, Ambimed ha applicato i temi della prevenzione e della sicurezza in viaggio nell’ambito degli obblighi sul lavoro previsti dal D.Lgs. 81/08. A completamento del processo, Ambimed fornirà le soluzioni più valide negli ambiti Health & Safety. Attraverso servizi di informazione, formazione e prevenzione interamente dedicati alla salute del personale viaggiante, offriremo la migliore preparazione per viaggiare in sicurezza e adattarsi a contesti territoriali diversi da quelli locali.”
Pyramid Temi Group. Travel Risk Management company attiva da oltre 40 anni su scala internazionale attraverso i propri hubs. Gestisce e coordina la sicurezza delle trasferte del personale aziendale in tutto il mondo. Si distingue per esperienza, competenza, professionalità, qualità dei servizi applicando best practices su misura delle esigenze di grandi organizzazioni e PMI.
BonelliErede. Leader di mercato per i servizi legali e fiscali in Italia, coprendo tutte le aree del diritto penale d'impresa e societario. Grazie alle sue sedi in Europa, Africa e Medio Oriente e alle partnership con studi legali indipendenti in tutto il mondo, BonelliErede è un vero e proprio player internazionale.
Ambimed. Esperti in Business Travel Medicine, attraverso un network di Travel Clinics (Ambimed Point), centri medici e punti prelievo affiliati su tutto il territorio nazionale, supporta le aziende aventi personale viaggiante nella definizione dei protocolli di salute e sicurezza e nell’erogazione dei relativi servizi sanitari, di sicurezza e formazione a tutela della salute dei lavoratori.
Tensions rising: from geopolitical to political risk
Article by Mark Lowe
While considerable attention is being paid to the rise in tensions between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China, the U.S. Department of State has issued a harsh advisory regarding American citizens residing or travelling in Russia.
Almost a year ago, on February 20th 2022, the United States embassy in Moscow cautioned American citizens in Russia to prepare evacuation plans as the crisis over Ukraine deepened. Further warnings were issued during the year, the last significant advisory being issued in September 2022.
Since then the situation has further degenerated leading to the Department of State issuing its strongest advisory yet: American citizens, including dual nationals, should leave Russia immediately.
Amongst other considerations, Washington fears that the consequences of the war in Ukraine may lead to the risk of arbitrary arrest or harassment of American citizens on the part of Russian law enforcement agencies.
On February 12th 2023, this fear led the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to issue a strongly worded advisory stating that U.S. citizens residing or travelling in Russia should depart immediately.
Citing Washington’s principal concern, the advisory specified that U.S. nationals should "Exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions."
While the risk to American citizens has been clearly specified in the Department of State’s warning, other nations have not followed suit notwithstanding the fact that the risk of arbitrary arrest or harassment is by no means isolated to those holding a blue passport with an eagle emblazoned on its cover.
European citizens are also at risk and this implies the implementation of a series of considerations that should be part of an organisation’s Travel Risk Management procedures. Although very few European citizens are travelling to Russia, the risk cannot be ignored, in fact it is particularly accentuated by exactly the fact that so few are visiting the country.
Chinese provocations
The geopolitical risks are not confined to Russia, indeed the recent rise in tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China following the invasion of American airspace by a Chinese unmanned airship have further accentuated an already delicate situation.
While Beijing has repeated on a number of occasions that the entry of the Chinese unmanned airship into U.S. airspace was a purely unintended, unexpected and isolated event caused by force majeure, Washington views the situation diversely.
China has criticised the United States for its “trigger-happy overreaction” in downing the unmanned airship with advanced missiles adding that “As a matter of fact, it is the United States who is the number one surveillance country and has the largest spy network in the world.”
While we wait for the situation to reach the next phase of its development, the reciprocal accusations are anything but good news for those travelling to China.
Care should be exercised in particular by those who are dual European-American passport holders or whose companies have joint ventures or business interests in the United States.
Political uncertainty
While the geopolitical spats are dominating the headlines, political instability is rampant around the world bringing with it the requirement to closely study developments and update mitigation and management policies and procedures.
No stranger to political instability, Africa is once again rife with situations that have the potential to worsen. The importance of Nigeria’s forthcoming elections to both the country and the wider region are testament to this in the same way that political instability and infighting remain major hindrances to South Africa’s economic growth.
Economic growth generally brings stability and with this a less challenging operating environment in which opportunities can be explored with less risks and greater freedom of movement.
Returning to Asia, one example of heightened political instability and uncertainty is Pakistan. As the country edges ever closer to debt default, political turmoil and unrest appear to be on a collision course from which very little of positive can be expected.
Currently Islamabad is facing its greatest crisis of the modern era, the country’s economy is facing total collapse in a manner similar to that of its neighbour Sri Lanka. Its politicians are engaged in a violent power struggle, while an emboldened Taliban-affiliated terror group is laying siege to the country’s west and north.
While in terms of travel most of the particularly dangerous areas of the country are of little interest to European countries, there is not reason to be complacent in the major cities where unrest, power strikes and general outages can cause major problems to anyone visiting them.
Asia and Africa are far from being alone, the violent protests that have shaken Peru since President Pedro Castillo was removed from office in December 2022 are a serious issue of concern for business travellers.
Almost 60 civilians have died in the unrest that erupted across the country in December 2022: most were victims of gunshot wounds.
Conclusion
The bottom line is not that of taking current situations into consideration but of exercising a heightened level of risk awareness.
While we are aware of the fact that certain situations, such as Nigeria’s forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, need to be closely monitored, the same applies for other countries or regions where a relatively stable scenario could change rapidly.
This implies closely monitoring the countries that travellers intend visiting and reviewing mitigation and incident response capabilities in order to assure that they are both updated and robust.
If you would like to know more about how Pyramid Temi Group can support your organisation, contact us and our experts will be glad to assist.
Violence in the United States
Article by Mark Lowe
In the global broadcaster's Travel section of their website, CNN published an article earlier today that raises an important question: "What travel warnings do other nations give their citizens about US violence?"(Link to the article HERE).
Without any doubt the article has been prompted by the latest mass shooting: last Monday at least seven people were killed in two shootings in the San Francisco Bay area.
There were but the latest in a year that has already been characterised by 39 mass shootings in only three weeks.
It is well known that the United States of America is awash with legally and illegally detained arms, however, the figures are astounding: according to an estimate by the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, there are about 393 million privately owned firearms in the US.
While the exact number of firearms owned by civilians is extremely difficult to calculate due to a variety of factors including unregistered weapons and the illegal trade in firearms, the Small Arms Survey's estimates means that there are 120 guns for every 100 American citizens.
The sobering truth is that no other nation has more civilian firearms than citizens.
Two statistics put the reality of gun ownership and use into context: the first is that according to a Gallup survey conducted in October 2022, almost 45% of US adults stated that they lived in a household with a gun, the second is that according to the december 2022 edition of Pediatrics - the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, firearm injuries are now the leading cause of death among people younger than 24 in the United States.
Mass shootings
Exactly what defines a mass shooting depends on whom you ask, for example the Federal Bureau of Investigation considers a "mass killing" as "three or more killings in a single incident."
Others define a mass shooting as one in which more than four people are killed or injured, in any case the simple fact is that, according to the Gun Violence Archive, mass shootings in the United States are increasing.
While mass shootings attract worldwide attention, the same cannot be said for incidents in which firearms are used during robberies or other criminal acts. Unfortunately, as per mass shootings, these incidents are also on the rise.
Advice for visitors
While statistics indicate that international travellers are highly unlikely to be involved in a mass shooting, the same cannot be said for other scenarios such as opportune crimes - a mugging or a street robbery, or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
While both cases are difficult to predict, there are ways to lower the visitor's exposure to gun crime. Avoiding dimly lit or empty streets and remaining in central areas and avoiding those parts of a town or city that have higher crime rates are the two most obvious.
Less obvious considerations are, for example, avoiding visits to local grocery stores in the evening when the likelihood of an armed robbery is higher.
Situational awareness is fundamental, travellers must be aware of their surroundings and avoid areas that they should not find themselves in. When in a shopping mall, restaurant or bar visitors should make themselves familiar with potential escape routes and hiding places.
These are a few considerations that serve the purpose of illustrating considerations that should be integrated into an organisation's Travel Risk Management training programmes.
Government advice
CNN Travel's "What travel warnings do other nations give their citizens about US violence?" article focused on different governments' advice to their citizens intending to travel to the United States.
As the analysis illustrates, the advice is varied but the risk of gun related crime has been highlighted on all of the websites examined by CNN Travel.
Pyramid Temi Group strongly advises organisations to brief their personnel in detail as to the risk of violent crime in general but including a special focus on gun crimes.
Travellers should be made aware of the risk and the correct procedures to mitigate against the danger. Advice should also be given in regards as to the most correct actions to be taken in a number of situations that range from being threatened with a gun during a robbery to being involved in a mass shooting.
Organisations should also have robust emergency plans to deal with a situation in which an employee or representative has been involved in any form of violent crime.
If you would like to know more about how Pyramid Temi Group can support your organisation, contact us and our experts will be glad to assist.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG), Travel Risk Management (TRM) and Supplier Due Diligence: a critical fil rouge
Article by Mark Lowe
Is there a direct link between Environmental, social, and governance (ESG), Travel Risk Management (TRM) and Supplier Due Diligence?
Pyramid Temi Group CEO Roger Warwick believes that the answer is a firm ‘yes’: “While a number of people are ascribing the ever greater interest in ESG as a fad, I believe that the integration of environmental, social, and governance criteria into an organisation’s culture and operations represents a step forward of great importance. For too many years there has been a focus on resolving problems and carrying forwards an organisation’s interests, while perfectly understandable, a focus on objectives has left a door open to issues that might not be exactly what management, the Board and investors really want to be involved with. By adopting strong oversight measures, all organisations can eliminate these risks and better not only their performance but also the direct and indirect effects of their activities on third-parties.”
To better understand Warwick’s opinion I sat down with him and asked a few questions on why he believes that ESG, TRM and Due Diligence are interlinked.
What is the fil rouge between these three quite distinct concepts and activities?
“It’s quite simple really but before we examine the links between them let’s begin by asking ourselves some very important questions: Who are we, how do we wish to be perceived, and what can we do to improve the environment in which we live and work in? The answer to the first question is quite simple, we’re organisations with responsibilities that go beyond simply reaching our objectives. There are direct and indirect consequences to everything that we do and we have to be aware of them and assure that they are always positive consequences.
As regards the second question, we wish to be perceived as ethical organisations that make a contribution to development and by this I intend both locally and globally. Let me be clearer, while on the one hand I want my company to grow and employ more people, on the other I want our activities to benefit those in the various countries that we work in. This means employing the services of local companies and local people.
This leads us to the third question, how can we improve the environment in which we work and live in? To this my answer is by working in an ethical manner with companies and individuals that we can place our trust in. People and organisations that share our beliefs and who will help us to implement measures that others will benefit from.
So getting back to your original question regarding the fil rouge, the answer is that as part of our ESG effort we conduct due diligence on potential suppliers and partners before working with them on travel risk management services."
How do you conduct this due diligence?
"One example is working with organisations that are International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) certified. The certifications process is robust and reliable and I firmly believe that any company that has embraced the ICoCA model has done so because they believe in it rather than because they see it as a shortcut to credibility.
ICoCA certification, like ISO certification, is a means via which clients can assess if potential suppliers share their commitment to quality. This is essential as every part of a supply chain has an impact on an organisation’s goals and reputation.
To this end the ICoCA certification process is extremely valuable because it is a process that you have to commit to both in terms of achieving and maintaining certification. Before beginning the certification process your procedures have already to be of the highest level and during certification they will be put to the test, no bad thing as this allows you to evaluate and improve your procedures according to the highest level of standards.
We’ve been through the process and Pyramid Temi Group have achieved full ICoCA certification so we’ve progressed from being a founding member of ICoCA to being the only Italian company to have achieved full certification status. Was it easy, most certainly not. Was it worth it, most certainly so."
Is ICoCA certification sufficient to evaluate a supplier?
"It’s an excellent starting point and on top of this you build in your own audit of a potential supplier, you want to be looking closely at their experience and past history, how they train their personnel, for example in terms of understanding and respecting human rights. As a security company we are very aware of and respectful of human rights and we encourage everyone else that we have dealing with to do the same.
I have to say that it’s not difficult to find common ground on this issue, however, I would like to see a greater effort on the part of organisations, especially government organisations, to promote the concept of respecting human rights and doing the right thing being essential prerequisites for all security companies. We’re going in the right direction but there is always some extra effort that can be made.
Just for the sake of clarity, although reputation is a very important issue, the bottom line is promoting a commitment to standards rather than conducting due diligence simply to protect reputation. Again, we are certainly moving forward on this and the fact further convinces me that ESG is not a fad at all.
You cannot define a concept that so many organisations are taking seriously as a fad, quite the opposite.
This leads us back to ESG and how supplier evaluation has to be part of the process. What other considerations would you make on this?
"We can and we should link ESG to last year’s publication of the long awaited UNI ISO31030 Travel Risk Management guidelines. There are two immediate considerations, one is how an organisation protects its own employees and secondly how their suppliers or subcontractors protect theirs. To be quite blunt I’ll put it this way, why would a company that refuses dealings with a supplier that runs a factory without any safety or security certification work with a company that does not protect its travelling workforce? If I was to evaluate a supplier, let’s say a company that’s providing machinery or equipment to a project that I’m running, I’d look very carefully at their Duty of Care procedures. I don’t want to be working with a company that isn’t compliant.”
And is UNI ISO 31030 compliance what you would be looking for?
“At the very least I’d be looking for evidence of an organisation that has closely studied the guidelines and is intent on reaching compliance with what is the only existing international standard on Travel Risk Management. I’d want to be sure that I’m working with an organisation that is committed to Duty of Care. I’d not want to be working with an organisation that exposes its employees to unnecessary risks or that doesn’t do its utmost to protect them.”
How do organisations reach UNI ISO 31030 compliance?
“They can begin by looking very carefully at what they do, where they do it, how they do it, and who does it for them. This will help them achieve a greater awareness of the risks that they face and therefore how to address them successfully. Naturally this requires expertise and this is why we are fully behind the certification of Travel Security Managers. When UNI backed the development of the new standard they realised that to implement the guidelines correctly competent managers would be required and to this end we worked with them as of day one to define a completely new professional figure, the Travel Security Manager. This new professional figure was immediately recognised by Confindustria Emilia as an initiative that they should back and promote and this led to the creation of a certificate course, the "Masterclass Travel Security Manager" organised in collaboration with the Fondazione Aldini Valeriani (FAV). Pyramid Temi Group were responsible for the development of the course structure, the course contents and the identification of the lecturers.
Because of our experience, the fact that we were one of the founding members of the UNI ISO 31030 working group, and one of the first backers of UNI’s new professional figure, we were able to put what was required together. The end result is that the first group have already been through the course and have been certified which means that a number of organisations are already benefiting considerably from their knowledge. As in any profession the bottom line is competency, do your people have the necessary skills, are they part of a wider circle of experience and can they answer the challenges that your organisation faces? These are the questions that the course answers.
Where did the experience come from, who were the lecturers?
“This is a very good question and at the risk of appearing a little arrogant, allow me to say that we identified and involved the most experienced and competent professionals in Italy including ICoCA’s Monitoring Officer, Giuseppe Scirocco. So we had a lot of experience delivered over a total of 100 hours with results that I am very pleased with.”
In conclusion, what are your key messages?
“Bad question to ask me because I could go on for hours! But on a more serious note, my key message is that organisations have to start by adopting compliance to the UNI ISO 31030 Travel Risk Management guidelines. Once they have begun that process, and part of it is directly connected to the auditing of suppliers be they security providers or technology providers, they need to understand how robust their supply chain is in terms of ethics, compliance, and adherence to the concepts of Duty of Care.
You don’t have to reject organisations that don’t meet your standards, you need to help them if they are committed but they lack experience. In the same way that we can all learn from others, we can all teach and assist others.
Study ICoCA’s policies and objectives carefully and add their certification to your list of security provider prerequisites. This might not always be possible but at the very least you should be looking for concrete guarantees that any security provider aims to achieve full ICoCA status.
If your own procedures are in place and are robust, if your suppliers are approved in accordance to strict criteria and you are willing to work towards creating an overall security culture, then par of your ESG responsibilities are already in place.”