Danger Routine for Middle East Workers

BellSouth owns 34.75% of Cellcom Israel, which runs about 360 offices and 30 service centers in Israel. Although BellSouth stations no employees in the country, one or two of its employees commute for 2- to 3-week stints, according to Jeff Battcher, BellSouth spokesperson.

“There has not been any increase in security there (since terrorist attacks on the United States) or in any of our Latin American countries, for that matter,” Battcher said. “Israel has always been a country where security has been paramount.”

Battcher said security measures in Israel include regular ID checks of employees entering corporate buildings, bulletproof glass dividing payment centers and package checks before building admittance.

In Israel, as in other countries where it jointly owns companies, BellSouth relies on the knowledge of the local government and local co-owners for security measures as well, Battcher said.

The U.S. Department of State's Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) echoes Battcher's sentiments: “Since the end of World War II, few of the countries that make up the Middle East have been without war or internal unrest for extensive periods. In limited or local wars, life goes on, and so does business.”

While business marches on, prudent companies watch for signs of impending turmoil and keep standing emergency plans to protect employees in various scenarios. One source of regular updates is OSAC's Web site news page at www.ds-osac.org. The page contains travel warnings and advisories and lists recent security incidents by country. OSAC's Web site also contains emergency planning guidelines.

“Probably the first thing (to do) as you see the problem of war getting started is to start moving your foreign nationals from the war zone,” said Brian Hollstein, Brian Hollstein and Associates consulting firm founder.

Hollstein said companies usually evacuate foreign nationals' families at the first sign of trouble. Often, the companies then move the foreign-national employees out of regular housing and into housing perceived as more secure, such as local hotels.

“As things get even tighter, it's time to start removing foreign nationals and leaving behind local nationals who would hopefully keep the operation going,” Hollstein said.

However, evacuation can be tricky in two ways. It's sometimes safer to stay put, according to OSAC's “Emergency Planning Guidelines for Businesses Abroad.”

Also, finding transportation is difficult.

“If I were a CEO, I would be busy lining up a means to get people out of an endangered area, and probably two or three different ways,” Hollstein said, explaining that airports usually close quickly in times of civil unrest or terrorist attacks.

Hollstein said he knows companies that have used rubber boats from offshore fishing vessels or private jets to evacuate employees. The goal was to get people out without tipping off the host country.

“All Nortel Networks employees are asked to avoid public gatherings or other dangerous settings,” said David Chamberlain, Nortel Networks spokesperson.

Nortel also makes sure country managers in troubled areas have comprehensive and current information on foreign nationals, Chamberlain said. The information includes the number of such employees, their nationalities, locations and contact numbers. Managers also are given employees' planned itineraries and departure dates.

Right now, Nortel's keeping a closer watch over its foreign-national employees.

“But other than that, I wouldn't say that there's been a great change (in security) at this point,” Chamberlain said.