Rushing to the rescue when 'she'll be right' goes wrong

Jeremy Van De Klundert says a lot of companies don't have contingency plans in place for when their overseas workers get into strife. Photo / Sarah Ivey

You could have been working in rural India and had your legs broken in a car accident, or a team of workers from your company may have found themselves stuck in a region of the United States obliterated by a hurricane.

There could even have been a military coup in a West African country where you were doing business.

Who would you have called as the bullets whistled through the air and the streets fell into disarray?

International SOS, an organisation that has dealt with many scenarios similar to those above, and more, would have been a good start.

"In a nutshell, we're really a global assistance company providing 24-hour assistance, primarily in the medical and security segments to corporates, expats and travellers around the world," said Jeremy Van De Klundert, general manager of International SOS' New Zealand operation, which mostly deals with problems affecting members located in the South Pacific.

A lot of the company's business sounds like it's come straight out of Thunderbirds, minus the puppetry.

Companies or individuals can buy an International SOS membership, which gives access to the organisation's services including 28 alarm centres staffed around the clock by medical professionals, a fleet of medically equipped jet aircraft for evacuations, 28 medical clinics and security services provided by the company's joint venture - Control Risks.

"Corporates say openly 'people are our most valuable asset'," says Van De Klundert.

"But when someone is actually going overseas and representing a company a lot of companies out there don't actually have any plans about protection and security of their staff when they are travelling overseas and working for them."

He says membership is more than just an insurance policy.

"Insurance doesn't provide a doctor for you on the ground. Insurance doesn't provide security services when there's a natural disaster."

Educating businesses about the risks their employees face overseas is one of the biggest challenges International SOS faces in New Zealand, where a "she'll be right" attitude often prevails, says Van De Klundert.

"People have got to think more about their employees who are representing their companies overseas."

He says the company - started by French doctors in Jakarta 25 years ago - did 17,000 evacuations last year.

It provides services to 87 per cent of Fortune Global 100 companies.

International SOS was in Samoa after the recent tsunami, and flew helicopters into Haiti to evacuate foreigners after January's earthquake.

A security evacuation of Western workers in Guinea was carried out following civil unrest in the West African nation this year.

But Van De Klundert says it's not just Third World countries that companies need to worry about sending their employees to.

Security and medical support could be needed anywhere in the world.