Boston, Nov. 18, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HX Global, the US division of Healix International, the global provider of travel risk management and international medical, security and travel assistance services, has raised its risk level for Hong Kong to MODERATE. HX Global is urging employers to apply stringent security measures for any employees in the region, including the implementation of employee tracking for their own safety.
“The security risk rating for Hong Kong has been raised to MODERATE by Healix International owing to an escalation of the ongoing anti-government protests,” explained Sebastian Liu, Global Threat Analyst for the Asia Pacific region at Healix International. “Unrest has been ongoing since June and while the initial protests attracted hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, they were largely peaceful. However, clashes between protesters and the police are now being reported on a near-daily basis, with the police regularly deploying tear gas, water cannons, baton charges, rubber bullets and, occasionally, live ammunition; at least three protesters have been wounded by live fire in the protests so far.
“Our risk rating review has been led by an increase in the ratings for Civil Unrest, Crime and Intra-State conflict, all of which have been increased to MODERATE. While attendance at protests has decreased, the levels of violence and use of “hit-and-run” tactics have increased. We are also urging employers to carefully review policies in relation to employees already working in the region, including the use of tracking to be able to monitor the movement of workers should the situation escalate further.”
The Healix Sentinel Tracker enables risk managers to seamlessly monitor and account for employees working around the world via the Healix Sentinel Travel Oracle mobile app. Once an employee has activated the Location Tracker function on their app, risk managers have access to an accurate, real-time global view of their location on an interactive map. Security alerts and notifications are pushed to employees and risk managers in a timely manner. And when a critical incident occurs, the geo-fencing feature of the Healix Sentinel Tracker can be used to rapidly identify all employees in the affected area and make contact via the integrated communication capabilities to quickly ascertain each individual’s safety and wellbeing. Risk managers can also set incident level thresholds aligned to their own HR policies so that employees can be evacuated as necessary.
“It’s crucial that firms monitor the situation in Hong Kong very closely, particularly if there is a need to maintain a presence in the region,” concluded Lu. “Working with a specialist like HX Global/Healix International can help with this process and can provide another means of direct contact with employees through the Healix Sentinel Tracker.”
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