LONDON (Reuters) ? A recent spate of high-profile hostage sagas involving foreign workers snatched in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Nigeria has prompted more companies to take steps to counter the growing threat of kidnapping.

The televised plight of British engineer Kenneth Bigley, who was snatched and subsequently beheaded by kidnappers in Iraq in 2004, highlighted the risk run by foreign workers who operate in the world?s most turbulent and lawless regions.

While reliable data is hard to compile, specialists agree that kidnapping for ransom has become a growth industry for criminal gangs and militant groups across the world.

?It is a very successful and relatively risk-free way of raising funds compared to robbing a bank,? said David Venn, head of the kidnap-for-ransom unit at Kroll Inc., the risk consultancy, which is owned by Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc., the world?s largest insurance broker.

Companies that do business in the world?s trouble spots are increasingly turning to special insurance policies to help them counter the growing threat of kidnap and ransom.

The market for this cover is already estimated at around $200 million in premiums but has scope to grow.

?A lot of companies do have the cover, but arguably a hell of a lot more should be thinking seriously about it,? said Clive Stoddart, managing director of Asset Security Managers, a unit of insurance brokers Aon Corp., which handles kidnap and ransom insurance.

?If they have any sort of exposure ... (then) any good company which puts a value on its employees should be thinking about it,? Stoddart said.

The policies, whose existence is kept strictly confidential to counter the threat of clients being targeted, offer cover for the financial consequences of a kidnapping and, most importantly, give clients access to expert help that is crucial in the event an employee is taken hostage.

?We have over 30,000 man-days of kidnap experience, which means we are more experienced than any police force in the world,? said Charles Dupplin, head of the private client division of Hiscox Plc, which is the biggest underwriter of kidnap insurance.

The policies offer access to so-called ?response consultants? who work for security firms such as Control Risks and Kroll, who are on call day and night if a client?s employee is taken hostage.

Venn, who has travelled recently to Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Somalia and Nigeria to advise on kidnap sagas, said there was little truth to the popular image of these consultants ? portrayed in hostage-drama films such as ?Proof of Life? ? as negotiators who enter into one-to-one games of high-stakes psychological poker with kidnappers.

Instead Venn?s team of experts, all of whom are in their 50s, use their long experience to advise hostages? families and employers of the likely sequence of events, help them deal with the relevant authorities and assess the realistic threat posed to the hostage.

Although many companies and governments say they will never bargain with kidnappers, the process of negotiation does work, says Venn, who has experience of over 100 hostage sagas.

?Providing the hostages can bear the boredom ? which is what they all report when they come out ? then the process will get them out. It works,? Venn said.

But the threat of kidnapping is set to rise further. Venn warns multinational companies operating in China to be on their guard against a rise in kidnappings there.

?You could say a good idea travels very quickly, and kidnapping is historically endemic in China.

?But it will soon move to a far higher plane, not least because western companies are pouring into China.?