Singapore-based risk management expert Tony Ridley travels widely as director of security services for Asia-Pacific at International SOS, which helps organisations manage the health and safety risks facing their travellers, global workforce and customers. On a recent trip to Hongkong, Ridley gave Gigi Onag some valuable safety tips for frequent travellers.
How often do you travel?
I travel every two to three weeks. I could be in Malaysia, Thailand, the US, London or Australia. Some trips are planned in advance while others are spontaneous because of my work, which involves operations response. In 2005, I was deployed to Bali during the second terrorist bombing. I organised and coordinated the evacuation of people who were affected.
What advice do you give business travellers?
Security is a preconceived idea for many people. For them, it is a “guns, guards and gates” kind of thing. But it is really all about risk management and risk prevention.
Last year, we did 17,000 evacuations by air ambulance, handled 20 million calls and conducted 900,000 routine cases. When you look at these statistics, what we do in terms of emergency evacuation responses is just the tip of the iceberg. What we do mostly is prevent certain situations from escalating to that particular point.
So business travellers, who are our clients, are forewarned and prepared. Specifically, we want them to be informed, we want them to be prepared and we want them to know the options – the best and the most efficient way of how to deal with things – when they go wrong.
Do you practise what you preach?
Absolutely. I use technology a lot. I have a BlackBerry where I put all my flight details, the hotels I am staying at, and the local contacts in the country. I can track my flights whether they are delayed or whether I should go to the airport now, and how long it would take me.
I practise religiously being very well prepared to make sure I don’t get into a situation where I am panicking about being late for a meeting. When you put pressure on the activity, it is when you make mistakes and that’s when things can potentially go wrong.
The first thing I do is pay attention to the administrative component, so I have tools and processes to rationalise my itinerary. All of that is prepared so what I have to do when I am travelling is execute my plan. I try to leave very little to chance.
What is the first thing that you do when you arrive in your destination?
The first thing I do is orientate myself at the baggage claim. Some airports are a bit of a contact sport, and there are a lot of predatory activities going on with touts approaching passengers the minute they step out of the airport terminal.
As soon as I get my bags, I prepare myself to go through what statistically is a high probability of exposure to risks, whether it’s a motor vehicle accident, being robbed or being exploited.
How does a business traveller prevent himself from becoming a prey?
If you observe touts at the airport, the people they target for solicitations of taxis and other items are the ones who look like they don’t have a pre-organised plan or they are unfamiliar with their environment. That is how victimisation typically works.
Often, we see victims become victims more than once. There are certain things you do that would instantly identify you as being a local, first timer or seasoned traveller. Eighty percent of our communication is non-verbal and that is what criminals look at. Carrying yourself with a degree of confidence can negate a lot of that.
