ISO 31030 Travel Risk Assessments & Audits | Corporate Travel Compliance

Published in 2021, ISO 31030 Travel Risk Management: Guidance for Organisations set the first global benchmark for corporate travel risk management. Focused on an employer’s duty of care, it provides a structured framework to help organisations protect employees during business travel.

Adhering to ISO 31030 enables companies to demonstrate due diligence, mitigate travel-related threats, and reduce legal, regulatory, and financial exposure. It positions traveller safety and security as a strategic priority while supporting business continuity.

GSA assessments offer an expert, independent evaluation of whether your organisation’s policies, processes, and procedures align with ISO 31030 good practice. We also provide a clear, practical, and prioritised roadmap for implementing global best practice within your business.

Key considerations include:

* Understanding your traveller population and the threats and risks they may face

* Addressing transportation challenges to, from, and within destinations

* Validating the safety, security, and health standards of accommodation

* Establishing proportionate incident management, communication, medical support, and evacuation or relocation processes in the event of a crisis8

ISO 31030:2021 Maturity Self-Assessment

This TRM Maturity Self-Assessment guides organisations to rapidly appraise their travel risk management practice through a structured self-evaluation of an organisation’s travel risk activity and, based on the responses, suggests ways to develop towards ISO 31030:2021 adherence. The model typically categorises maturity levels from basic to advanced, outlining specific characteristics, processes and capabilities at each stage.

The online questionnaire takes just 10 minutes to complete, and respondents receive a report almost instantaneously which can be downloaded or sent via email.

ISO 31030:2021 Travel risk management: Guidance for organizations Readiness Assessment

An experienced GSA travel risk auditor will assess your current policies, procedures and process, and evaluate their alignment with the ISO 31030 good practice. We will meet with key stakeholders involved in travel risk management and compare policy against practice, after which the auditor will report to the organisation on its strengths and weaknesses and provide a proportionate, practical and prioritised plan about how to address any identified gaps.

“GSA undertook a very robust and in-depth review of our internal guidelines and procedures and this included interviewing Regional Protective Security, H&S, Travel Services personnel to gain a detailed overview of travel security across several international geographies. The final report from GSA highlighted several gaps in our overall service but provided a remediation action plan to enable us to effectively manage the points raised as well as offering additional consultation services to support this process.”
Michael Holmes, Global Protective Security Corporate Services, HSBC Group Management Services Ltd (HGMS)

ISO 31030:2021 GSA AUDIT

In addition to the assessment, GSA can audit an organisation’s approach travel risk management against the ISO 31030 guidance standard. The GSA auditor will review travel risk management policies, procedures and processes, interview key personnel and make an audit recommendation towards a GSA providing its certificate of accreditation. 

“We underwent GSA’s ISO 31030 readiness assessment and audit, and just got certified. The whole experience with GSA was smooth and reliable. Communicating with them is easy and straightforward, the recommendations they gave are accurate and helpful.”
Koen Jansen, Group Travel Safety & Security Manager, Booking.com

A guide to BS ISO 31030:2021 Travel risk management — Guidance for organisations

Effectively managing business risks in any organisation is crucial to its success. Business travel risks range from travellers missing their flights and important meetings, to crises that threaten life or even organizational viability. Risk arising from national or international travel is complex, and organizations often do not have adequate policies, procedures and processes to identify their reasonably foreseeable risks and to manage them.

This contemporary guidance standard provides powerful insights developed by international travel risk experts to help organisations meet their ‘duty of care’ obligations and deliver proportionate, effective travel risk management. ISO 31030:2021 also helps equip travelling staff with the knowledge and confidence to undertake their business travel safely, securely and successfully.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How long does the ISO 31030 Readiness Assessment or Audit take an organisation to complete? 

GSA Global reviews available relevant policies and procedure documents etc over the course of a day. We then arrange to meet (in-person or virtually) key stakeholders who lead on business travel, and staff travellers to establish how the policy and procedure are translated into practice – this usually takes two days. We then prepare the report of our findings which we present back to the organisation sponsor and their team. At all times, we work collaboratively to ensure our engagement minimises disruption in busy organisations. The audit follows a similar path and takes a similar time, depending on whether the Assessment was completed first.

What do you receive from the ISO 31030 Maturity Self-Assessment, Readiness Assessment or Audit?

The ISO 3103:2021 Maturity Self-Assessment provides an instant report on how your organisation compares to the good practice in the ISO and benchmarks your organisation against others which have completed the self-assessment. The Readiness Assessment provides a detailed report and Action Plan (as appropriate) detailing where your organisation meets good practice and our recommendations to close any gaps observed in business travel arrangements. Following a successful Audit, an organisation receives a GSA certificate confirming the successful outcome and denoting adherence ISO 31030:2021. This Certificate is current for 12 months from the date of issue.

Who is involved in the ISO 31030 Assessment or Audit process from the corporate or business? 

Key individuals we speak to include the executive member(s) who have responsibility for the duty of care to business travellers. We also spend time with the operational leads who have delegated authority from the executive to develop and manage policy and its implementation. Where this function is dispersed amongst several managers, we like to see them and understand their role and contribution to travel risk management. Then, we see an experienced and less-experienced traveller to help us judge how policy and practice align. We liaise and plan with the organisation to schedule meetings when interviewees are available.

How can you use the ISO 31030 Assessment Report in your business? 

Independent assessment of travel risk management arrangements can help satisfy internal, external audit and regulators’ expectations. Well-run, independently verified arrangements may also help attract more favourable insurance premiums. An important benefit is the ability of positive findings to inspire in business travellers greater confidence that their trips will be both safe and successful.