Healix Worldwide, the safety and medical danger mitigation and help supplier, is urging employers to pay attention to potential dangers of travelling to South Africa.
The South African basic election is about to happen on eight Might 2019 and it's possible there might be an increase in social unrest as protest teams take to the streets.
“South Africa has one of many highest recorded charges of crime in Africa,” mentioned Eilidh Thomson, affiliate safety advisor – Africa at Healix Worldwide. “But it surely’s additionally a extremely necessary area for UK companies.”
Thomson argued it's important that corporations sending workers to the nation, whether or not for brief visits or long term secondments, present recommendation and help earlier than the journey in addition to making assist accessible at some point of their go to.
Nearly all of crime in South Africa’s main cities is of an opportunistic nature, resembling pick-pocketing, bag-snatching and smash-and-grab incidents, in addition to carjacking at site visitors lights. Criminals frequently goal ATMs, which might embrace “categorical kidnappings”. That is the place criminals take victims hostage for a short while and pressure them to take cash out of ATMs.
Social unrest is a matter, significantly across the time of political occasions, just like the upcoming basic election.
“We advise first-time travellers to organise a meet-and-greet with an area contact or trusted driver on the airport after they first arrive,” mentioned Thomson. “Travellers ought to test a driver’s credentials and passenger particulars earlier than leaving and at all times maintain home windows closed within the automobile. Easy ideas like solely utilizing ATMs in safe complexes and avoiding automobile journeys throughout rush hour could make all of the distinction to enterprise travellers, on the subject of decreasing their danger.”
Employers additionally want to contemplate the well being dangers employees face abroad. South Africa has a well-developed non-public healthcare system and plenty of community hospitals present gold normal care, particularly in Johannesburg and Cape City.
Hospitals will ask for a bank card on admission and failure to offer one is prone to lead to switch to a public facility, which can usually be of a decrease normal and have longer ready occasions.
Anybody travelling to South Africa ought to make sure that all nationwide immunisation schedules are updated, particularly tetanus and MMR. They need to additionally solely drink bottled or boiled water and eat well-cooked meals to keep away from sicknesses resembling typhoid, cholera and traveller’s diarrhoea, Thomson suggested.
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