Safe Travel Institute, a 4-year-old Spokane company that offers training and educational materials aimed at keeping people safe when they travel abroad, says it has signed a contract with Chicago-based Boeing Co. to provide its Safe Passage Travel Companion video to Boeing employees.


The initial contract, valued at about $40,000, provides Boeing with a license to load the Safe Travel Companion DVD onto its corporate intranet so that all Boeing employees can view it online at their convenience, says Randall Spivey, executive director of Safe Travel Institute. The contract also gives employees of the big aerospace company free membership in Safe Travels online system that provides country-specific information on such things as expected etiquette and what is available at U.S. embassies.


Spivey says Safe Travel hopes to land an additional contract with Boeing to provide employee training and other services.


The Safe Passage Travel Companion DVD was launched a year ago through a collaboration of Safe Travel Institute, Spokane video-production house Corner Booth Productions, and Corporate Resources Inc., a business consultant here.


Last summer, Safe Travel announced that it had signed a similar pact with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to provide access to its video, and Spivey says the company is discussing other such contracts with BellSouth/AT&T, FedEx, Exxon-Mobil, and Spokane-based Itron Inc.


The DVD guides viewers through the stages of travel, beginning with what to pack, and offers advice on how to increase personal security on planes and in hotels, how to spot and avoid scams, and what to do if theyre robbed or taken hostage, the company says. Spivey says the DVD can help employers reduce the risk they face when sending employees overseas on business.


Safe Travel Institute employs 15 people at its offices at 108 N. Washington downtown. The company says it is led by former employees of the U.S. Department of Defense, FBI, and U.S. intelligence agencies who have specialized in personnel risk. Spivey managed hostage survival training programs for the Department of Defense and authored hostage-related federal policy, Safe Travel says.


In addition to the DVD, the company offers seminars on safe travel, abduction prevention, and managing a hostage crisis, as well as consulting on those topics. Its customers include mostly larger corporations and government agencies.