Less than six months after terrorists launched simultaneous attacks across Paris killing 130 people and wounding hundreds of others, Europe was once again rocked by terror this week in the Belgian capital of Brussels when bombs exploded inside the city’s international airport and subway. The attacks killed at least 31 people and wounded nearly 300 others. A U.S. official confirmed on Friday that two Americans were among those killed.
One of the big questions facing today’s business leaders in a world of increasing economic globalization is how to protect personnel and other assets in the face of what has become a persistent threat of ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks. The Paris attacks should have served as a wake-up call for those who discounted the risks posed by radical jihadists, but according to George Taylor, vice president of global operations for risk management services firm iJET, many organizations remain woefully unprepared to deal with the aftermath of a terrorist attack.
“In general, many organizations do not have robust enough plans that can survive first contact when something happens,” said Taylor. “They think they have a plan, they may have discussed it or they wrote it down… and when first contact happens they haven’t rehearsed that plan and it turns out to be more of a phone tree than an actual plan. People internationally are unable to call or they may call their supervisor who may not be aware of a plan and so it’s information all over the place that’s not organized. My opinion is a good amount of organizations have not developed plans in enough depth and rehearsed those plans to ensure they work.”
Taylor believes the Brussels bombings could force some organizations to rethink business travel in the region and that they may opt to conduct more virtual meetings instead. Even if businesses do decide to continue sending personnel to Belgium, France and other parts of Europe, Taylor said they need to prepare accordingly for the increased security measures that will be in place there for the foreseeable future.
“People, if they actually travel, are going to have to add in a significant amount of time for delays, extra screenings and things like that,” explained Taylor. “There will also probably be an added cost that the prudent organizations will start planning in a little bit more detail for as they start equipping employees with phones or other devices where they have communications and are able to do health and safety welfare checks on them when they travel.”
While organizations may have to be willing to live with the risk posed by terrorism when they send their employees abroad, Taylor said that doesn’t mean they should accept it without building any mitigation strategies around their travel and business operations in the region.
“Rethinking should take place around that risk and how to best mitigate it, so they should take some steps to help them prepare, monitor and respond to these incidents,” added Taylor. “Some of the things companies should be looking at now is do they have a policy? Do they have a policy that governs international travel or business travel? Do they have a plan that supports the execution of that policy? Have they rehearsed that plan? Have they assessed the threats and come to the conclusion of what the risks are and implemented, in that plan, some policies and mitigation steps? Have they conducted a business impact analysis to see what their key nodes are and where they could drawback on some travel that could be done remotely, as well as areas where they may need to pulse up travel? Those are some of things they need to take a look at.”
Although terrorists have shown a willingness to attack a variety of different targets, Taylor said they all share at least one big commonality and that is they are places where people congregate, usually in large numbers.
“The commonality is they are targeting humans, human emotion, human fear, and human uncertainty and they are trying to stay ahead of the curve of that so it always leaves this uncertainty and a little bit of nervousness which they hope magnifies the impact of all of these events,” said Taylor. “I’m not minimizing what happened, I’m just saying these events, as we see, get worldwide attention and that’s what they want. There is no way to avoid them. It’s impossible. Unless everybody is just going to sit at home in their basements, you can’t avoid them. So, again, if companies adopt some mitigation strategies… they can help their employees or travelers learn a little bit about what to look for.”
Taylor said the combination of the Paris and Brussels attacks should serve as a notice to companies that things will not be “business as usual” moving forward for them in Western Europe.
“Companies have a duty to prepare their people, a duty to monitor their people and empower their people to do safe business travel. And the company does have a duty to have policies, plans and procedures built around that,” concluded Taylor. “People need to stop doing so much talking about what they’re going to do and actually take some action and do it.”
