There's a lot of bad stuff going on in the world, from major terrorist attacks to the bothersome pickpocket at the airport. Most of us have the luxury of watching all this from the comfort of our homes, but the jet setting business traveler doesn't have that privilege. Their job entails traveling to various places, and this exposes them to a ton of risk. Duty of care dictates that employers are responsible for their employees' safety when they are out there representing the company's interests. Not only is doing your utter best to shield your representatives from risks the right thing to do, but it also protects you from future financial and legal troubles. In the spirit of the New Year, here are 3 strategies suggested by CrewFacilities to ensure your traveling employees are safe and sound as they transact on your behalf. Identify the threats to the staff. In sports, people say the best defense is a good offense. In this case, a good offense is arming your employees with the knowledge they need to keep themselves safe. You can't defend yourself from an unknown threat, after all. Understanding the range of threats that a business traveler would face is the first step in creating a risk management strategy. According to a study by Collision, global threats are becoming increasingly unpredictable. "In an indication of the fast-changing nature of global events, a number of countries perceived as being traditionally less risky received level three alerts in the first half of 2015," the report says, highlighting the importance of giving your traveling staff a clear picture of what could go wrong. Emphasize information security. These days, most of our personal information is digitized, making it a lot easier for identity theft to occur. The chances increase four times for a business traveler, and as an employer, it's your duty to arm your employees with all they need to avoid identity theft. Paige Schaffner, COO of the Identity and Digital Protection Unit at General Global Assistance, agrees wholeheartedly. "Businesses need to arm traveling employees with the tools and strategies to protect their personal identities while in transit," she says. Encouraging your traveling staff to be proactive by avoiding unsecured networks, using two-step verification emails and removing smartphone apps that act as spyware will go a long way in minimizing travel risk. Don't skimp on emergency communication tools. The best strategy always has a plan for the worst-case scenario. Every trip comes with the risk of some sort of emergency, so it's important you plan for that eventuality, even if nothing does happen. For instance, the CrewFacts App used by CrewFacilities includes some powerful risk management features, on top of 24/7 customer service and emergency communication capabilities. With such measures in place, a travel manager will be able to track his/her traveling staff and receive alerts any time an employee books a trip to a high-risk destination. CrewFacilities understands that the world is not always a safe place, and it encourages travel managers to implement these strategies into their own risk management plans to keep traveling staff safe. If you have had duty of care issues, contact us and we will be your partners in ensuring that employee travel is not only optimized but also made safer for all concerned.