ISO 31030:2021 Assessments and Audits

Published in 2021, ISO 31030 Travel risk management: Guidance for organizations has established the first global good practice benchmark specifically addressing corporate travel management centred on an employer’s duty of care to provide a safe working environment, which includes business travel arrangements.

Adherence to the ISO 31030 guidance standard allows companies to demonstrate effective due diligence in identifying and mitigating travel-related threats and risks. The guidance positions employee safety and security as a priority balanced against the effective delivery of an organisation’s business goals, and helps reduce legal, regulatory and financial exposure arising from travel-related harms.

GSA assessments provide an expert and independent view as whether your organisation’s policies, processes and procedures meet ISO 31030 good practice and provide a clear, practical and prioritised plan as to how to global good practice can be introduced and followed in your business.

Key considerations include:

Knowing the traveller population’s profile to understand relevant threats & risks

Meeting relevant transportation challenges to and in, locations to be visited

Validating the safety, security and health standards of accommodation

Establishing proportionate incident management processes, communication protocols, medical support, and evacuation/relocation policies in the event of crisis.

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.

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 3100:2021 adherence. The model typically categorises maturity levels from basic to advanced, outlining specific characteristics, processes and capabilities at each stage.

The on-line 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

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 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 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 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.