taking the sting out of a crisis
e-News - February 2005
Edited by Dr. David Perl MB BS, MBCI
First case of litigation after Tsunami
It was only a matter of time before we saw litigation in some shape or form after the tragedies over the New Year. Personally I expected any subsequent litigation to revolve around inadequate care or a lack of rapid response from organisations such as Hotels, Tour Operators or Ground Handlers. The following article, picked up from the Agence France Presse (AFP) in Vienna shows otherwise:
"A group of Austrian and German victims of the Asian tsunami disaster are to file a lawsuit demanding that Thailand, a French hotel chain and US forecasters prove they reacted adequately to the disaster, their lawyers said.
The suit, naming the French hotel chain Accor and the US-run tsunami early warning system in the Pacific as well as Thai authorities, will be filed in a New York district court this week, the lawyers said in Vienna.
"We found that serious lapses were committed," said Herwig Hasslacher, one of the three lawyers for the group. They said the suit was not, at present, designed to demand compensation but to uncover evidence that would prove negligence.
The case was presented as the first of its kind arising out of the December 26 disaster, when a powerful undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra sent huge waves pounding into coastlines around the Indian Ocean. The suit will be filed on behalf of 15 Austrian and four German victims of the disaster.
The targets are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Washington and its Hawaii-based tsunami warning centre; the Accor group of hotels where some of the victims stayed; and the Thai government.
The NOAA is accused of having registered the earthquake but failed to alert Indian Ocean countries of the impending tsunamis as the Hawaii centre covered only the Pacific.
The lawyers said that if the NOAA and Thai authorities, which had their own information, had passed on their alerts in time, it would have enabled people on shorelines to flee inland.
"We have evidence they did not warn us, even though they knew a quarter of an hour later about the strength and location of the quake, and although there is supposed to be a tsunami warning" from 6.5 on the Richter scale, Hasslacher said. The quake measured 9.0."
Accor is named in the lawsuit because the plaintiffs say the chain did not properly inform relatives of the victims after the disaster and had built its Sofitel hotel, in the Thai resort of Khao Lak, on a quake fracture line."
Comment:
Of note is that the Accor group have been included, for amongst other things, not properly notifying families of Victims. I wonder how many hotels gather Next of Kin or Emergency contact information at the time of check in or booking for just such an eventuality. This is now common practice in the US aviation industry, following the implementation of the Family Assistance Act in the mid 90's. Click here for an on-line version of the act
All the more reason why organisations need workable, robust and effective crisis management systems and procedures in place.
Travel Health - reducing the risk of things going wrong
| The
following article is of significance for any organisation that expects its
staff to travel overseas as part of their job. It is even more
important if they are going to areas where disease is rife! It has
been written by an ex medical colleague of mine, Dr. Charlie Easmon.
Charlie has more letters after his name than I have had the proverbial hot
dinners. I have added his bio at the end of his article along with his
company's contact details. Why is travel health important to you? The UK has successfully rid itself of many diseases that still plague the poorer parts of the world. Damage to the liver (hepatitis) can cause tiredness and in some cases cancer. Tetanus can cause spasm of the jaw and death. Typhoid can cause a hole in the gut and death. Polio can cause paralysis. Rabies once it reaches the brains is 100% fatal. We all know someone who was severely ill or sometimes we knows of death from malaria. Decent travel health advice can significantly reduce these risks. The legal reason Employers owe a duty of care to employees. An engineering firm had to settle out of court with a widow who’s husband died of malaria. Her lawyers successfully argued that he should have received up to date malaria prevention advice. The unfortunate man was only told about the risk of yellow fever. A lawyer successfully won a six-figure sum from her own law firm after it failed to warn her of the risk of amoebic gut diseases in West Africa. Properly documented, accurate travel health advice can reduce the risk of these six-figure payouts. The financial reason Court or out of court payments as noted above are an obvious cost saving but who audits the cost of illness. How many people have returned from abroad and been wrongly diagnosed by their GP. Some people are told they have irritable bowel syndrome, which is a life-time diagnosis for what may be a parasitic illness and could be treated in a week. How many people with malaria end up on intensive care or too ill to work. Even hepatitis can put you out of action for several months. You and your work force deserve the best and most up to date advice available. Good travel health advice is not an area to falsely try and save costs. Many employers show no interest at all in where or whether their employees receive travel health advice. If 20 engineers go to see 20 different general practitioners (GPs), it is almost a certainty that they will have 20 different opinions ranging from the well-informed to the truly appalling. You should want to be certain that all 20 have had the best advice possible and that this is consistent. With this knowledge you can feel re-assured` that the duty of care has been met. The logistical reason You are pulling a team together from different locations. You may even disperse them overseas. Why not make sure they all have the same written travel health brief? See if a provider can go to them, if you cannot bring them all to one place to see the provider. Why not make sure one provider keeps all the health records for you and ensures completeness? How many times has someone said “I don’t remember what I had and when I had it”? This is costing you money. A simple example: if you have 2 hepatitis A vaccinations within one year of each other no more is required for 10 years. However, people forget the second jab and have to start again, each time at a cost of more than £40. Why not choose a provider who can ensure a recall is made as and when the next vaccinations are due. You have sent your engineer to a malarious area. The mission was supposed to be 3 months but it has been extended. Who do you ask to provide more malaria tablets? The NHS GP is not allowed to prescribe for more than three months to someone going abroad. You need a provider who can source and deliver the medication to your engineer. What should you think about for comprehensive travel health duty of care? Firstly ask yourself do I even have a travel health policy? If not think what should it contain or who can I ask to write me one? A good travel health policy would consider the following:
The above list is not exhaustive but gives an idea as to why clients use services such as ours to ensure that their travellers get the best advice and services before, after and during their time abroad.
Dr Charlie
Easmon, MBBS, MRCP, MSc Public Health, DTM&H. DFPH, DOccMed, Medical
Director |
For help in all crisis management and risk assessment matters, why not call docleaf® now on 01923 681224 or visit us at www.docleaf.com.
The above articles are written by Dr. David Perl, Chief Executive of docleaf®, unless otherwise mentioned. Articles are copyrighted to docleaf®. Permission to reprint will usually be granted for no charge. Write to info@docleaf.com
A collection of articles about Crisis Management can be found at: www.docleaf.com/enews.htm