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What are the employer’s obligations under the law?
At EU level, employers are required to ensure workers’ safety and health in every aspect related to work. Under Directive 89/391/EEC, the employer must assess occupational risks, take the necessary preventive measures, provide workers with relevant information, and adapt prevention measures to changing circumstances. Where business travel or an international assignment exposes employees to health risks, those risks should therefore be considered as part of the employer’s duty of prevention.
At international level, the WHO International Health Regulations provide the legal framework for health measures affecting international travel, including international vaccination certificates. The countries who signed those Regulations, including Italy, thus require the mandatory vaccines required by the WHO Regulations in cases of travels.
What does it mean in practice?
In this context, recommended vaccines may be relevant from an occupational health and safety perspective where the employee’s destination, worksite, itinerary or type of activity creates a health risk.
The employer’s obligation does not necessarily mean that every recommended vaccine must automatically be imposed on the employee. Rather, the employer should:
- identify the health risks connected with the destination and activity;
- inform the employee of relevant recommended vaccinations;
- involve the occupational physician where appropriate;
- allow sufficient time for medical consultation and vaccination before departure;
- document the risk assessment and the preventive measures considered.
What are the consequences of not checking recommended vaccines before business travel?
Failing to verify recommended vaccinations and destination-related health risks may expose the company and the employee to avoidable practical and legal issues, including:
- insufficient assessment of foreseeable health and safety risks;
- exposure of the employee to preventable diseases;
- delays in departure if a medical consultation is required at short notice;
- disruption or cancellation of the assignment;
- unexpected medical, assistance or repatriation costs;
- difficulties in demonstrating that the employer properly assessed travel-related health risks.
Checking recommended vaccinations in advance also allows the company to involve the relevant doctors early enough. This is particularly important because some vaccinations require more than one dose or must be administered several days or weeks before departure in order to be effective.
How Atlasposting supports employers
Atlasposting allows companies to identify relevant recommended vaccination information before sending employees abroad.
This service supports the employer’s travel risk assessment process by helping HR and mobility teams identify health risks connected with the destination country. It can therefore contribute to the employer’s broader duty of care and to the documentation of preventive measures considered before the assignment.
Communicating information on recommended vaccines and encouraging the employee to seek appropriate medical advice are important steps to demonstrate that the employer has considered travel-related health risks and has supported the employee in preparing safely for the trip.
How does the service look like?
When creating an assignment or posting, and after purchasing the service on the Atlasposting portal, the company can access country-specific information on recommended vaccinations and travel health precautions.
How does it work?
The information is based on country-specific health recommendations.
Our algorithm extracts information on the recommended vaccines from 7 national governmental websites: Italy, United States of America, France, Germany, Australia, United Kingdom, Japan. In addition, the algorithm uses extracts this information from the health specific websites of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
You can personalize your alerts by receive a warning/notification (see the red logo in the image above) when a certain number of countries recommend a vaccine (for example, in the image above, when 5 countries or more recommend a vaccine), or only when one specific country (for example Italy) recommends a vaccine for your country of destination.
Why those sources?
Our algorithm uses these sources because those countries recognize and accept each other’s recommendations regarding vaccines.
Respecting the vaccine recommendations of multiple countries strengthens the legal protection of the employer.
Using these sources helps structure a documented and reasonable prevention process, which can be used in the employer’s favor in cases of legal issues.
Summary
Protecting employees’ health and safety is a legal obligation for employers sending employees abroad, regardless of the duration of the trip. For this reason, employers should assess recommended vaccines and destination-related health risks.
Communicating recommended vaccinations required for the travel and taking steps to respect those requirements (for example, booking vaccinations) is a big part of this protection of the employee’s health and safety. This should therefore be done by the employer to avoid any kind of legal and practical issues in the future.
To save you time and effort, A&P provides you with a list of recommended vaccines for your country of destination via our portal Atlasposting. The list is easily available on the portal and is based on multiple recommendations by 7 governments, which are considered safe and compliant by Italy and multiple other countries.
This service thus prepares and protects you strongly from any legal and practical issues before, during, and after your employee’s travels.
Would you like to know more about vaccines, risk assessment, or our portal Atlasposting? Click on the links to discover more of our services!
