International SOS

International SOS is the world's largest medical and travel security services firm, which counts nearly two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500 companies as clients,[1] and takes around 5 million assistance calls every year.[2]

Services

International SOS focuses on helping organisations and their people reduce exposure to, and mitigate, risks while travelling abroad.[3] Their services include pre-travel information, pre-travel health programmes, travel safety education, advice, medical equipment and assistance services.[4] It provides a range of services including assessing medical and security risks, advising on preventive programmes and assisting with emergency response for travellers, expatriates and their dependents. Its centres are staffed by physicians, nurses, paramedics, EMT's, operations managers, multilingual coordinators and logistics support personnel. It also has a global network of external service providers including specialist doctors, hospitals, ambulances, charter aircraft and security personnel.

The firm's TravelTracker monitors the travel of 3 million people, helping organisations locate their workers in a crisis.[5] The firm joined risk management consultancy Control Risks in releasing an itinerary-forwarding feature TravelTracker in 2016.[6]

The firm operates air ambulances services out of South Africa, Singapore, China, Papua New Guinea, and the Middle East. It airlifted 18,000 emergency cases in 2008.[7]

International SOS
Founded 1985
Headquarters London, UK and Singapore
No. of locations Global
Founders Arnaud Vaissié and Dr Pascal Rey-Herme
Employees 10,994
Slogan Worldwide reach. Human touch[8]
Website www.internationalsos.com

Organisation

International SOS is a privately owned company. They work with educational organisations,[9] corporate clients (including the majority of the Fortune Global 500[1]), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governmental organisations.[10]

The firm has headquarters in Singapore and London.[11] but operates world-wide via 26 assistance centres serving over 1,000 locations in 90 countries. .[12]

The organisation has more than 10,000 employees worldwide,[13] of which 1,400 are full-time doctors and 200 are security specialists. The firms take around 5 million assistance calls every year.[2]

International SOS clinic staff moving a patient into their clinic in Lagos, Nigeria

History

Pascal Rey-Herme, a doctor, and Arnaud Vaissié, a businessman, founded a company (then called AEA International) in 1985 to provide medical assistance services to expatriate communities and international organisations in Southeast Asia. Over the following decade, the company grew from its base in Singapore and Indonesia into a pan-Asian corporation, with operations in Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and mainland China. Key clients included oil and gas companies with operations in remote locations.

In 1998, AEA International acquired International SOS Assistance, a group of corporations founded in 1974 by Claude Giroux a Canadian entrepreneur, creating the largest medical assistance company in the world.[1] Initially, it was known as AEA International SOS, and was renamed International SOS in 1999. The acquisition extended the company beyond Asia.

In 2012, International SOS moved its UK headquarters to Chiswick Park, West London.

Growth and Acquisitions

In 2008 the firm launched a strategic alliance with Control Risks, to offer combined medical and security services[14] and acquired MedAire,[15] a provider of remote medical services for aviation and maritime. In 2009, it acquired a majority stake in Abermed, a UK-based provider of occupational health and remote medical services to the energy sector. In 2010, it developed a strategic alliance with RMSI, an international rapid deployment medical and rescue service, with activities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia and Pakistan.

International SOS medical staffs performing offshore emergency MEDEVAC in oil and gas drilling platform in Andaman Sea, Myanmar.

In 2011, it merged with VIPdesk, a North American provider of concierge services, customer care and loyalty programs, acquired the medical supplies division of SMI (Service Médical International), acquired of L.E. West, EMC, Shenton Pharmacy and Nutracare Pharma, and launched a joint venture in Brazil with International Health Care. In 2012, it acquired EMSM, a concierge and lifestyle company in South Korea. And in 2013, it acquired Norwegian companies SBHT, KBHT, Haugaland HMS, and Nordic Medical Services (NMS), and partnered with Aerosafety, a medical and aviation safety equipment company in Brazil.

In 2014, it launched Response Services Australia, a provider of emergency response, rescue and recovery services, entered a partnership with AMAS medical Services in India, acquired Aeromed in Mozambique, and created strategic partnership with Western Africa Rescue Association (WARA), a clinic and medical services company in West Africa.[16] In 2016 it entered a strategic partnership with Everbridge.

In 2017, it entered a Duty of Care integration with Rocketrip, started joint venture partnerships with Global Excel and Iqarus, acquired International Health Solutions[17] and launched a digital consultation service from Aberdeen Health Centre. It also started the world's first emotional support service for the mobile workforce.

International SOS medical team evacuated an injured patient from remote area of Myanmar to capital Yangon with Cessna Caravan

Major assistance

International SOS has provided medical advice, assistance, and travel safety services during and after a number of major incidents.[18] These include the Jakarta unrest[18], the Mumbai terrorist attacks by helping those directly impacted by the event,[19] and the Yemen crisis.[20]

It has provided service during disease crises, including the provided medical assistance during the 2003 SARS outbreak[21] and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.[22][23][24]

It has dealt with major natural disasters such as the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the 2005 Hurricane Wilma,[25] the 2010 Haiti earthquake,[26] the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, [27], the 2014 Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu,[28] and the Sabah earthquake in Malaysia.[29]

The firm has also provided services to major sporting events such as the Summer Olympic Games in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, and the 2010 Asian Games.[30]

In 2006, International SOS's medical transports became the first direct flights between mainland China and Taiwan to be flown since 1949.[31]

New services

2001 Travel locator services were added to the online platform.

2008 TravelTracker launched, a travel tracking service combining the Control Risks' and International SOS' existing services.[32] The application now tracks more than 2.5 million travellers per year.[33]

2010 Began to offer preventive programmes to help companies meet duty of care obligations to employees abroad.[34] This led to the distribution of medical and security information and alerts online, and developing travel preparation and risk mitigation programmes.[5][35]

2011 Launched the International SOS Assistance App – the Android and iPhone iOS mobile phone apps.

2015: Launched updated version of Pandemic Information, an online portal featuring information on, and analysis of, emerging infectious disease outbreaks.[36] It also became first company in the world to be certified in the delivery of Telehealth services[37] with international standard ISO/TS 13131:2014 ED1.

    2017 * Achieved ISO/IEC 27001 Certificate for Information Security Management in relation to the development and support of all International SOS digital medical and travel security services.

    2018 sign partnership agreement with Chatham House . Launched Medsea Marine Medical Assistance Chinese services

    Awards

    International SOS has received the following recognition and awards:

    2009 Arnaud Vaissié awarded Ernst and young Entrepreneur of The Year Award.[38]

    2012 The publication ‘Duty of Care Benchmarking Study’ won ‘Best Research Study of the Year’ EMMA.[39]

    2015: TravelTracker 6.0 won the Business Travel Awards ‘Best Specialist Business Travel Product/Provider;[40] the firm won Best Specialist Business Travel Product/Provider award - Business Travel Awards.[41]

    2016 International SOS and Control Risks received the Individual Alliance Excellence Award from the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals.[42]

    2017: Risk Management Product of the Year, CIR Risk Management Awards for TravelTracker and Incident Management Services,[43] International Healthcare and Risk Management Provider of the Year, FEM EMMA EMEA Award,[44] and winner in four categories at the Americas EMMAs: Best Use of Data Analytics within Global Mobility, Most Innovative Use of Technology in Global Mobility - Assignee Management, International Healthcare and Risk Management Provider of the Year and Thought Leadership – Best Survey or Research Study of the Year.[45]

    Publications

    International SOS has been listed as a publisher on several publications covering research into duty of care and travel risk management. Notable publications include works by Professor Dr. Lisbeth Claus[46][47] and ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives) International.[48]

    2009 ‘White Paper: Duty of Care of Employers for Protecting International Assignees, their Dependents, and International Business Travellers’, written by Professor Dr Lisbeth Claus, published by International SOS.[46]

    2010 ‘Briefing Paper: Every Ash Cloud has a Silver Lining – Lessons Learned from the 2010 Icelandic Volcano Crisis’, published by ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives) Global and International SOS.

    2011 ‘Duty of Care and Travel Risk Management Global Benchmarking Study’, written by Professor Dr Lisbeth Claus, published by International SOS.

    2015 ‘Travel Risk Management, European Trends’, written in partnership with FERMA and DLA Piper.

    2015 ‘Scholastic sector's duty of care: Managing the pursuit of education while abroad’ written by Dr Lisbeth Claus, Professor of Global Human Resources at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management of Willamette University, and Robert L. Quigley, Regional Medical Director and Senior Vice President of Medical Assistance, Americas Region for International SOS.

    2016 ‘Managing the safety, health and security of mobile workers: an occupational safety and health practitioner's guide’ by International SOS Foundation and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

    2017 ‘Investing and Operating in Russia’ white paper launched in partnership with Enhesa

    2018 'Investing and operating in Mexico: How to Mitigate Occupational Health Risks and Achieve Regulatory Compliance'

    International SOS Foundation

    The International SOS Foundation launched in March 2012 with a grant from International SOS as a registered charity that is a fully independent and non-profit organisation.[49]

    The Foundation has the goal of improving the safety, security, health and welfare of people working abroad or on remote assignments through the study, understanding and mitigation of potential risks. It has published, and acts as a repository for, a number of academic papers, articles and advisory notes on these topics.[50]

    In 2016, the Foundation introduced the Duty of Care Awards to recognise organisations and individuals who have made a significant contribution to protecting their staff as they travel and work overseas.[51]

    In 2017, the Duty of Care Summit was launched, bringing together industry leaders to share best practices in the safety and security of the mobile and remote workforce; this event took place on the day of the Duty of Care Awards.

    Notable publications include:

    • The ‘Global Framework on Safety, Health and Security for Work-related International Travel and Assignments’, compiled by Dr David Gold. In 2014, the ‘Global Framework’ won the award for ‘Thought Leadership’ in the Expatriate Management and Mobility Awards (EMMA), for the Asia Pacific region.
    • ‘Return on Prevention’, published by Prevent and commissioned by the International SOS Foundation in March 2015, investigates the risks associated with international assignments and the cost of a failed assignment.
    • 'Travel Risk Mitigation Bowtie', International SOS Foundation 2015.
    • ‘Occupational Health & Safety And Workplace Wellness Reporting Guidelines For A Global Workforce: A Practical Guide For Internationally Operating Employers’ in partnership with Sancroft in 2017.

    See also

    References
    1. "Risky business". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
    2. "Interview: International SOS taps China market on B&R initiative - Xinhua | English.news.cn". xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
    3. "The Times - Raconteur Business Risk Strategies" (PDF). The Times - Raconteur Business Risk Strategies. The Times. June 11, 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
    4. "TRICARE Sends $269.1M SOS for Overseas Health Care". Retrieved 2016-07-19.
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