The search for oil and gas can lead operators and workers near or into known hotspots for civil unrest, violence or other threats to human life or health, leaving companies to face possible emergency evacuations.

“Foreign nationals living in a country abroad face particular problems during a disaster be it natural or political,” said Ian Macdonald, a business immigration attorney with the international law firm Greenberg Traurig. “There is often a lack of adequate documentation for personal identification. This is a problem for many individuals as a result of being removed from an area or having experienced lots of damage to personal items and records.”

This, in turn, has consequences when it comes to immigration.

Some individuals may find themselves ineligible for emergency relief in some countries, even if it is necessary to protect their lives, he added. Likewise, insufficient evidence to prove legal status held in a particular country could lead to deportation.

Then, there is basic knowledge such as knowing the location of the nearest bus station, train station or airport when trying to get out of harm’s way. Just keeping track of which employees are on site on any given day, considering the mobile nature of the oil and gas business, also could leave some companies digging through payrolls for names and searching for local onsite contacts when an emergency calls for evacuation.

“These are all things that companies are grappling with right now,” Macdonald said.

In recent years, oil and gas companies have found themselves in such situations that require quickly evacuating a country. There are steps companies should take in advance to be ready if, or when, the situation arrives. Technology also is being developed that could make the process go smoother for all companies.

Technology

While each company is different and the level of preparedness varies, Macdonald said that the majority of oil and gas companies are not ready for this type of activity. Many areas where risk is present are strategically important areas for companies, and oftentimes these same areas face infrastructure challenges and lack access to resources.

“Putting in the necessary resources to address all of these issues unfortunately is often put to the side of immediate operational needs that the company may have in a particular country,”Macdonald said.

However, the next wave of innovation is unfolding. Among these is the creation of dashboard technologies that give companies line of sight on their entire expatriate population.

“They can through the technology immediately identify who the person is, where they are located, what entity they are working for, what it is they do, what is their nationality, what skillset they have,” he explained. “A lot of these decisions need to be made in a very short period of time. That is light years ahead of where a lot of companies are. [Today] they would have to reach out to the local company.”

The dashboards also provide information on immigration, employment and tax laws.

In addition, wireless technology is being developed. “Wireless technologies will increasingly be used by companies to help individuals be identified and take action during an emergency,” Macdonald said, adding “Real-time information on where people are can assist with their movement out of a challenging area of a country.”

However, challenges still remain with wireless technologies or any GPS tracking.

He used for an example a company that made thousands of belts containing GPS tracking devices to keep track of employees, but if people don’t want their whereabouts known they wouldn’t wear the belts. The struggle right now is coming up with something that allows companies to track and identify where workers are to collect data and become more proactive, without interfering with their privacy, Macdonald said.

Preparation

Still, there are steps companies can take today to better handle emergency evacuation situations to ensure the safety and well-being of their employees.

“A couple of the action items that we are working with [companies] on is identifying neighboring countries or regions where displaced workers could be deployed quickly in the event of a disaster,” Macdonald said. “This requires us working with the companies to profile immigration and employment laws based on the citizenship of the workforce.”

Determining the average processing time for work visas and coordinating with host country government agencies regarding planning and emergency resolution protocols also are among the firm’s efforts. Among his recommendations for companies was to identify key decision makers at ministries of labor and immigration departments in neighboring countries for direct access should an emergency arise.

“We also will put together response modules,” he said. Such modules include assessing the employment competencies of the workforce, identifying redeployment possibilities or if that is impossible repatriating them back to their home country for a period of time until the situation is resolved.

“By doing simple things such as mapping out the locations of emergency services and mass transit routes … you’ve got an idea of how quickly you can get your people out,” he added.

Emergency preparedness drills, just like fire drills, are also needed.

“The Arab Spring is probably the best example where you saw mass scale movement of people, and a lot of these companies found themselves in a very challenging situation because they did not have the necessary planning in place and as a consequence of that we saw a lot of individuals left stranded,” Macdonald said. “That created some real difficulties for companies that were facing the movement of people. What we are now helping companies with is learning lessons from those situations and making sure that they have a level of preparedness for what is likely to be the next event in those regions.”

Contact the author, Velda Addison, at vaddison@hartenergy.com.