Small Business Travelers and International Work Safety

MEDIA CONTACT: Nura Sadeghpour, uvg22cdc.gov, (202) 245-0673

Planning for safety and health abroad

When workers travel internationally for their job they are presented with a unique set of circumstances that can affect their safety and health. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released the Small Business International Travel Resource that provides valuable information and tools for both employers and employees to address these travel concerns.

International work locations present unknown challenges and risks, especially for small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. The new travel resource was designed to help the small business owner and their employees anticipate and plan for safe and healthy travel abroad, and is organized in three stages: pre-travel, on-travel, and post-travel.

Resources for employers and employees scheduled for international job assignments include:

• Employer Task Timeline: Provides a process for planning travel and protecting an employee and a business by identifying key risk, liabilities and the necessary logistics and communication needs.
• Travel Planner: Employers can review this checklist with employees specific to their job, location, and personal needs to help them manage key risks, liability, logistics, and communication abroad.
• Post Travel Report: Helps employees prepare for completing onsite activities and communications, and on the upcoming transition to daily life at home, encouraging scheduling leave for needed rest and reorientation upon return.

“Because many small businesses lack human resource staff to plan international work travel needs, the responsibility often falls on owners and managers,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “This new international travel resource provides the necessary tools to anticipate and plan for safe and healthy travel abroad.”

Very often, an employee focuses the most energy on pre-travel planning and getting to their destination. This new resource encourages thorough and advance planning that takes into consideration their safety and health needs at all times. The Small Business International Travel Resource tools also include a travel health assessment, packing list, location health and safety plan, contact and emergency information forms, and incident reports, as well as an international work travel resource directory.

Please access the new Small Business International Travel Resource here. More information on travel needs can also be found at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Traveler’s Health page, and overall small business health and safety resources can be found on NIOSH’s Small Business topic page.

NIOSH is the federal institute that conducts research and makes recommendations for preventing work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths. For more information about NIOSH visit www.cdc.gov/niosh.

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