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HEAT (Hostile Environment

Awareness Training)
23rd MAY 2016

Msc Disaster Management and Sustainable Development

GE0230BNN01: Subject Exploration: Disaster and Development

Tutor: Richard Kotter

Northumbria University
Author: Antonio Blanco
K381963
Antonio.mulero-blanco@northumbria.ac.uk
23th May 2016
Total Words: 3,030

INTRODUCTION
Duty of care is becoming more and more a part of the legal obligations of individuals and
companies. This also is the case for companies sending personnel to Hostile environment
zones with the right tools and training to do their tasks in a professional and safe manner.
Neglecting this may cause a great deal of loses either in financial or lives.
To investigate deeper in the subject on, role-plays scenarios and learning, it will be taken into
consideration to attend ( The researcher : myself ) one of the two modules given in HEAT
course, provided by the Survival School Anaconda 1, Marbella, Spain.
There will be two researches taking place (Hostile Environment Awareness training) HEAT and
Survival Course. In the Primary research the researcher will be taking part in the course as an
observer as well as a student except the third day which the researcher will be appointed by the
Instructors as a Team Leader participant (Duty of care UK, 2016).
This assignment will be explain HEAT as well as my findings on the researchers diary during
my experience on the Survival Course with references supporting my findings using different
tool and research methods describe in this proposal.
There is considerable difference between the primary proposal of the project before starting this
assignment and after carrying out the fieldwork study at the School Anaconda 1. After
thoroughly consideration reading the Ethics Northumbria University form the researcher have
decided not to include the names of participants or Instructors in order to protect their identity.
However all draft primary data collection will be provided for referencing. Once the assignment
is marked the material will be destroyed.

Ethical issues were considered as the project went through the Northumbria University ethical
clearance procedure. This means that ethical issues within the secondary data will have been
acknowledged, assessed and covered. The interview data will be anonymised and use numbers
instead (example: student 1, interviewee 2, etc.)

All the information will be stored on a

password protected hard drive as well as other devises. No relevant information will destroyed.

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Veracity, privacy, confidentially and fidelity were the main four main ethical rules to consider
when the project will be proposed in order to collection primary data.

Consent form was

included in the questionnaire as well on the beginning of the anthropological research on the
beginning of the Survival course. Once all the information was collected, the forms were
prepared and signed by both the researcher and each participant and stored in a secure placed.
The reciprocity principle was used to make sure the participants gain positive outcome from the
project itself and help the willingness to participate (Creswell, 2011). A copy of the ethics form is
completed. Copy provided on Additional Material. A copy of the health and safety form will be
completed .Copy provided on Additional Material.

CHAPTER ONE: HEAT (Hostile Environment Awareness

Training)
International organisations, encounter a mutual challenge in the field: health and safety and
security of their staff. Personnel deployed in disasters and crisis management missions are
exposed to a diversity of risks and occupational dangers in their fieldwork.
The EU deploys personnel in different kinds of international operations. There is an increased in
responsibility to protect of its personnel working in Hostile environments. This is established by
the legal requirement agreed by the Council for CSDP operations which EU will be to consider
the Hostile Environment Awareness Training course (HEAT) a obligatory training for every staff
working in EU field operations, minimum in high and critical risk mission areas ( European
Union, 2006 ) . The following table 1 reflects the importance why the HEAT course is need.

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Table 1. Major attacks on aid workers: Summary statistics (2004-2014)

Personnel must feel secured and safe when dealing with crisis management regardless of the
mission. Duty of care not only includes pre-mission medical examination and psychological
screening (Drodge, 2003). Also hostile environment awareness training and ensuring a
functioning in-situ security management framework (Alkire, 2003).
The present training curriculum endeavours to provide comprehensive coverage of the relevant
issues in this area and is designed to put participants in stressful situations, preparing them for
worst-case scenarios (Wright and Goodwin, 2009).

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Tablet 2.Assessing Vulnerabilities in Hostile Environments. The SAFER edge HEAT course notes
(2013)

The aim of the After Action Review (AAR) is precisely that of highlighting critical problems and
issues that emerge during the field exercises and of improving the personal and group ability to
properly behave under difficult conditions (DeGrosky, 2005).
Smith (2016) argues that the main three reasons personnel should take the HEAT course are;
Moral; Legal; Economic. Moral meaning that the organization has a moral duty to ensure the
health and welfare of its employees and other relevant stakeholders who may be effected by its
actions; Legal meaning that organizations may be legally required to put in place sufficient
measures to ensure the health and welfare of employees and other relevant stakeholders;
Economic meaning that good Health and Safety actually can in many situations save
organizations money, when taking into account the complete tangible and intangible costs of not
having Health and Safety measures in place. (Despite the popularly held view that
frequently this is not the case. (Smith, 2016).

The underlying assumptions on which the course is based are as follows: hostile environment
awareness plays an important role in the effectiveness and impact of the mission (Acas, Duty of
care UK, 2016).

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CHAPTER THREE: Conclusion

Even the HEAT course is not is provided to all the personnel who works in unfamiliar and hostile
environments it is growing in popularity and reinforced by legal aspects as Duty of care (Union,
2006). Ignoring this will affect tremendously in the individual as well as companies. Workers

must be provided with the tools and knowledge to perform in such environments.
Currently the Europes New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi) is working
extremely hard To promote their unique capacity building programme that was initiated in early
2011. The main focus lies on the preparation and training of civilians that are either going to,
or already working in, crisis management missions worldwide. Such missions include those of
the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the African Union (AU), as well as other international crisis
management missions (ENTRi,2013). All this is strengthen by the Duty of Care.
All thought there is not a secret formula how to know who can make a good survival and what
makes that person resilience. Gonzales ( 2102) provides 10 major points where can been seen
in the course attended by the researcher; WANT IT, NEED IT , HAVE IT; BE HERE NOW;BE
PATIENT ;BE TOUGH;GET THE SMALL PICTURE;PUT HIMGS IN THEIR PLACE;WORK,
WORK, WORK ;SEE ONE , DO ONE , TEACH ONE;TOUCH SOMEONE;BE GRATEFUL.
As Smith (2016) perfectly states companies have three main obligation to offer a recognised
HEAT course: moral, economic and most important legal.
A part from Duty of care in Health and Safety at Work an Act to be taken into consideration is
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (The Corporate Manslaughter
and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, 2008 ).
In 26 February 2010 Mr. Peter Eaton, Director of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings was the first
prosecuted under the 2007 Act and he was charged with the unlawful killing of a young
geologist by gross negligence. Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd were found guilty and had
to pay a fine of 385,000 after a two week trial..if we have the n consideration of 385,000 fine
to be paid ; during 2008 Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings had 8 people employed with a
turnover of 333,000.(CPS, 2011)
The ideal full package that will satisfied a excellent Duty of care to any personnel working in a

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Hostile Environment will be include ( Legal Obligation, Health And Safety, Duty Of care with
Training and Equipement, Insurance) . Currently Some Organisations and Individuals include
Insurance covering different aspects to people who travel to Hostile Environments as well as
some health and Safety aspects. However all the training provided are very minimum and in
many cases online or power-point presentations. No courses such HEAT hostile Environment
Awareness Training are provided for all personnel as it very restricted and not compulsory for
companies as premiums are very really affected.
Therefore all this factors sums up of unprepared and untrained individuals who are deployed to
Hostile Environments who are danger to themselves and the people who they encounter with.
Insurances like WILLIS http://www.willis.com/ are working together with https://www.scrltd.co.uk/#&panel1-3 who provides not only consultancy and 24 monitoring but also tailored
Training. This approach is the perfect symbiosis between the different aspect of Duty of Care.
More speciallised Insurance Companies like https://www.insuranceforjournalists.com/ although
will benefit with differing HEAT training to their costumers.
Training and Consultancy like http://www.tundragroup.ca/ amongst other training providers still
find challenging to make Insurance companies to understand that not only it is important to
provide a service or Insurance cover that will respond to the personnel's needs but also most
important prevention provided with a interactional training that will provided prevention and thus
affecting the quality of Duty of Care and unnecessary exposures to danger situations.

Course provide to United Nations personnel. Not free.

HEAT course Modules

Source : http://www.zif-berlin.org/en/training/zif-trainingcourses/specialization-courses/hostileenvironmentawareness.html
Course Modules

Awareness of threats, risks, and personal security

EU risk management process: EU risk assessment and Mission Security Planning (MSP)
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Mobile security: Safety and security procedures for vehicle movement

Management of threats related to gatherings, protests, demonstrations, and riots
Kidnapping, hostage taking, hostage survival
Weaponmines, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), and Unexploded Ordenances
(UXOs)
Protection of classified and sensitive information
Orientation in the Fies, ld: Map Reading and Use of Compass and GPS;
Medical training: health maintenance on mission
Orientation, communication, four-wheel driving

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