This is due to large-scale political demonstrations throughout the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, including in areas popular with tourists.

“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,” said 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 cannon, baton charge, rubber bullets and, occasionally, live ammunition; at least three protesters have been wounded by live fire in the protests so far.”

One security measure recommended by Healix is the implementation of tracking of employees for their own safety. The Healix Sentinel Tracker can be used by risk managers via the Healix Sentinel Travel Oracle mobile app to monitor and account for employees working around the world. Employees can activate the location tracker function on their app, enabling risk managers to view their location on an interactive map, with security alerts and notifications sent to both employees and risk managers.

There is always the possibility of risk, and employers must exercise their duty of care in ensuring that their employees are as safe as possible. With communication, security alerts and geo-tracking, this can be successfully done.