Running a passenger transport business is about more than just moving people from A to B.
You’re also partly responsible for passengers’ travel plans, holidays and business connections.
If you don’t have adequate measures to protect them from illness, injury or attack, it could be damaging to your reputation and your business.
In a time when news and opinions travel fast, any negative experiences can go viral and even get into mainstream news.
But by having the proper tools, strategies, training, and insurance in place you can reduce the risks to your reputation.
Based on our experience of cases and claims, we’ve identified five key risks to reputation in the passenger transport sector:
01
Keeping passengers safe is the first duty of any transport business.
People put their trust in you, to get them from A to B without having to worry about their health or security.
You can minimise risks by putting safety measures and procedures in place and ensuring they are understood and followed by staff.
However, transport is risky by its nature and accidents and adverse events may happen no matter how good your safeguards.
What matters if something does go wrong, is how you take control of the situation and manage it, to avoid the worst outcomes if harm occurs.
Having a crisis communications plan and access to crisis management specialists when an incident happens can help you deal with the immediate impact, reduce injuries and losses, and avoid serious damage to your reputation.
If harm is caused by the deliberate actions of a rogue employee, you should take steps to minimise such events happening in the future.
This may include stronger background checks on staff or providing additional mental health support.
02
Historically, some businesses in the transport and travel sector, such as cruise lines, have suffered serious reputational damage from poor hygiene, which has resulted in outbreaks of illness or food poisoning amongst passengers.
“With COVID-19, these risks have only increased and have forced transport businesses to take additional infection control and hygiene measures.”
Ludan Wang
WTW
With COVID-19, these risks have only increased and have forced transport businesses to take additional infection control and hygiene measures.
If a breakout does happen, including COVID-19, you will find it easier to control the situation, and protect your reputation, if you have a plan for managing infections and can show that you have followed all the relevant protocols.
Make sure that your insurance policies cover the business interruption or loss of profit that may be caused in these circumstances.
03
In a time where most people carry smartphones and can record and publish videos in seconds, travel businesses must make sure their employees live up to high standards of behaviour.
To achieve this, you might need to improve your training, including diversity or unconscious bias courses. Also promote policies and codes of conduct that make it clear you will not tolerate abuse.
You should have a strategy in place to manage the damage to your reputation from adverse media if customer abuse does take place – for example if a video of your employees discriminating against customers appears online.
Having the right tools to monitor social media, so you know what is being said about your business online can help you track adverse media. This knowledge will also help you understand when and how to react if something potentially damaging emerges.
04
Attacks by armed assailants are a continuing threat, especially for domestic transport operators.
“Transport businesses should make sure staff are properly trained to identify suspicious behaviour and promote a culture that prioritises security.”
Ludan Wang
WTW
Transport businesses should make sure staff are properly trained to identify suspicious behaviour and promote a culture that prioritises security.
For example, British Transport Police’s See it. Say it. Sorted campaign reminds potential attackers that police are aware of the threat and reassures customers that there is a system in place.
Have a clear plan of action if an attack happens and make sure that staff are trained in what to do.
We would recommend that you practice this regularly and monitor your readiness.
Ensure that communication systems, alarms, and intercoms are working properly, and that staff have basic first aid training so they can help injured customers before emergency services arrive.
05
If someone gets ill, or has an allergic reaction, after eating a meal or a food product sold on board one of your transport services, it could have an impact on your reputation and brand.
This could also be the case for site operators, even if they don’t sell products directly – for example, if someone suffered an allergic reaction from food bought at a catering concession in a train station or airport terminal.
You need to understand how you would respond to a serious incident, whether you are directly or indirectly responsible, and build it into your crisis management and recovery planning.
“You need to understand how you would respond to a serious incident, whether you are directly or indirectly responsible, and build it into your crisis management and recovery planning.”
Ludan Wang
WTW
When incidents occur that could damage your reputation, knowing how to overcome the fallout is key to maintaining a good reputation.
From having a strong initial response to show you’re handling the situation, to taking action to avoid future incidents and facing any fines or liability, customers will scrutinise how you respond to a crisis as much as the crisis itself.
But preventing a situation in the first place is much more difficult and requires businesses to constantly monitor how they’re perceived, whether that’s in the press, on social media or by other organisations they’re associated with.
At WTW, we have developed a Reputational Crisis Insurance and Risk Management solution that will help you anticipate, mitigate, control and repair reputational damage as it happens.
Powered by Polecat, live sentiment and impact analysis helps you stem the tide on reputational damage before an event escalates.
You choose which reputational risks you want to cover. If an adverse publicity event happens related to one of the risks, you get immediate access to crisis consultants, who can advise you on how to manage the situation.
You also get indemnity for loss of profit and the costs of brand rehabilitation for your chosen risks, designed to help you recover financially from a crisis.
For more information about our Reputational Crisis Insurance and Risk Management solution and to arrange a free initial consultation, please get in touch.
