Safety trainings

HEAT - Hazardous Environment Awareness Training

The HEAT course is designed for participants with a wide range of backgrounds and occupations, and with hostile environment experience ranging from none to significant. Participants will be trained to recognize and mitigate potential threats and respond appropriately to various safety and security incidents. During the HEAT course you will learn techniques on how to "take control of chaos" through classroom sessions and practical exercises. The training courses are based on our experiences and knowledge of managing an international humanitarian organization with over 8,000 employees working around the world.

Pre-screening of training needs, close mentoring and follow-up with every participant ensures that he/she is able to understand and react appropriately to risks and security threats.

Safety and security trainings of the Danish Refugee Council focus on how to stay and operate, rather than on how and when to leave. Proactive and non-aggressive measures form the basis of the Danish Refugee Council’s approach to safety and security, and thus the HEAT training.

See all HEAT training events here

Re-HEAT – Refresher of Hazardous Environment Awareness Training

The overall objective of the Refresher of Hazardous Environment Awareness Training (Re-HEAT) is to re-prepare participants to understand and react to safety and security incidents in hostile or hazardous environments.

The two-day course is designed for participants who have previously completed a HEAT and need a refresher of their knowledge and skills. The training is an opportunity for professionals to reflect on experiences with Hazardous Environment Awareness since completing the HEAT. Re-HEAT participants come with a wide range of backgrounds and occupations, however they have prior experience from the HEAT training in common. Participants will be re-trained to recognize and mitigate potential threats and respond appropriately to various safety and security incidents. During the Re-HEAT course you will learn techniques on how to "take control of chaos" through classroom sessions and practical exercises. The training courses are based on our experiences and knowledge of managing an international humanitarian organization with over 8000 employees working in around the world.

Pre-screening of training needs, close mentoring and follow-up with every participant ensures that he/she can understand and react appropriately to risks and security threats.

Safety and security training of the Danish Refugee Council focus on how to stay and operate, rather than on how and when to leave. Proactive and non-aggressive measures form the basis of the Danish Refugee Council’s approach to safety and security, and thus the Re-HEAT training.

See all Re-HEAT training events here

SMT - Safety Management Training

Overall objective of the course:

The training prepares the participant to take decisions on safety management and take initiative to improve safety planning. The participant learns to effectively apply safety policy using a safety risk management system to support the safety and welfare of staff and assets.

The course is targeted at International NGO managers, safety focal points, safety officers, and safety coordinators. It is based on safety management best practice for international NGOs. 

The training is delivered either as a physical classroom training or as an online training. Please notice in the training calendar if a specific training course is conducted in a physical setting or online.

Typical duties within safety management:

• Develop local safety rules
• Conduct pre-arrival briefings for travelers
• Attend to staff welfare and safety
• Conduct local safety drills and exercises
• Handle onboarding and management of guard service
• Advise management on appropriate safety risk management strategies and how to implement safety policy
• Develop and audit safety minimum operating standards
• Conduct safety risk assessment
• Respond to safety incidents
• Report and analyze safety incidents

See all SMT training events here

IMT- Incident Management Teams

Overall purpose of the course:

The training prepares the participant to respond to a safety incident as a part of a local (typical country) incident management team of decision makers and specialist assembled to manage a serious safety incident or safety risk. E.g., rising tension in a country due to election, or armed groups start forming.

After the training, the participant also knows how a critical incident I.e., an abduction, a violent assault, a compound attack, a detention, or a complex medevac can be managed by a centralized regional team of decision makers relying on context familiarity and ability to read the contextual factors of risk landscape. And the participant knows how a global team of decision makers and specialist can manage an organizational safety risk crisis. i.e., pandemics, cyber-attacks, or critical incidents that take on a crisis form.

The incident management team's typical duties:

Response to serious incident through:

• Information management
• Communication
• Analysis

Contribution to:

• Critical incident response
• Crisis management

See all IMT training events here

FLO - Family Liaison Officer Training

Overall purpose of the course:

The training prepares the participants to function as Family Liaison officers on behalf of an organization. The family liaison officers function as communication link between an organization’s critical incident management team and the relatives of a staff member who is unable to communicate, e.g. due to being hospitalized, abducted etc.

The training is a real time, face to face training, based on collaborative learning. Participants will participate in plenary sessions, task solving in groups, peer feedback, and participant presentations.

In the training there will be simulation and scenarios. These scenarios will be presented through picture, video, and sound. Real time roleplaying will be presented to the participant through the screen and speaker.
The training will be facilitated by a senior safety expert and a senior stress counsellor.

The training is based on critical incident management best practice for international NGOs.

The FLO’s typical duties:

• Maintains communication between the organization and the family.
• Manages family dynamics, their expectations, and fears.
• Defuses/prevents the family’s potential frustrations and worries.
• Helps prevent, rationalize family members solo initiatives that may be disruptive.
• Gathers helpful information from the family.
• The organization has a duty of care to the staff –ethically and legally.
• Prepares the family for the best – or worst.
• Follows up with the family and the organization after incident has ended.

See all FLO training events here