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Mitigating Safety Risks: <br />A Personal and Professional Responsibility?<br />13 July 2010<br />

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Mitigating Safety Risks: A Personal and Professional Responsibility? <br />Live Web Discussion – 13 July 2010<br />Mr. Claude Bruderlein<br />Director<br /> Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University<br /> Dr. Stephen Morris<br />International Emergency Medicine Fellow Clinical Instructor at Brigham and Women's Hospital at<br /> Harvard Medical School<br />

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Mitigating Safety Risks: A Personal and Professional Responsibility? <br />Live Web Discussion – 13 July 2010<br />Safety concerns are central to all humanitarian work. The responsibility for personal safety lies both with individuals and the organizations they are working for and with. But how can humanitarian professionals mitigate risks and limit their exposure to violence while working in a violent area? How can individuals and organizations avoid being targets for violence? What are the procedures and systems that can ensure safety on mission, and what can individuals and organizations do to improve safety?<br />This session will open a discussion on both personal and systemic approaches to avoiding and mitigating safety risks involved in humanitarian work.<br /><ul><li> Discussion with Christopher Finucane, Director, Humanitarian Policy, Ltd.

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Discussion with Andrew Northover, Security Consultant, OPTARE Group</li></li></ul><li>Dr. Stephen Morris is currently the Harvard International Emergency Medicine Fellow and a Clinical Instructor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Stephen’s clinical training took place at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, WA, and at Yale Emergency Medicine in New Haven, CT.<br />Stephen has worked in a variety of clinical and public health programs around the world, as well as education and development programs in the Americas, research in Africa and Asia, and policy and management work with the World Health Organization. He has experience in post-conflict and post-disaster settings, mostly recently as the acting medical director of a field hospital in Haiti.<br />

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Defining Humanitarian Security, Roles, and Responsibilities: An Introduction<br /> Overview<br />

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Questions to be answered<br />Who is ultimately responsible for staff and mission security?<br />What is an appropriate level of security for a particular organization or mission? How should that be decided?<br />Does the international community have the right to demand improved and consistent security for all organizations?<br />Who is responsible for providing security when an organization fails to do so?<br />

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What is security?<br />“Security is the protection of humanitarian<br />personnel and assets from violence and theft.”<br />From theEuropean Commission - Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection (ECHO) Generic Security Guide<br />Broader definitions include any threat or event<br />that could affect the health, wellbeing, or<br />success of the humanitarian workers and <br />mission.<br />

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Risk = Threat * Vulnerability<br />

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Balancing Needs and Security<br />Is greater vulnerability justified by the needs and goals of the mission?<br />Is an organization prepared to handle changes in security in real time?<br />Who makes the decision about when to abort a mission due to security threats?<br />

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Some Components of Field Security<br />

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Christopher Finucaneis the director of humanitarianpolicy.org, a London-based research consultancy service for aid organizations. He is an Associate of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where he is conducting research on violence against aid workers and aid organization responses to safety and security risk challenges. Chris is Co-Leader of the NGO Security and Standards in Staff Protection working group for the 2011 Humanitarian Action Summit, and a board member of the International NGO Safety and Security Association. He is also a Conflict Adviser to the United Kingdom’s Stabilization Unit.<br />Chris has operational humanitarian experience with Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee and has completed numerous field deployments covering West and Central Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and South America. He has also completed operational posts to East Timor and the Solomon Islands as a senior policy advisor. Chris’s experience in policy development with governmental and non- governmental organizations spans over 20 years. As well as research Chris is actively involved in an advocacy project in support of aid workers worldwide.<br />Chris has facilitated workshops at Sida’s Advanced Training on Humanitarian Action program, and at the South East Asia Peace Lab at Paramadina University (Indonesia) on behalf of the Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) program at Harvard University. Since 2008 he has worked with the Security Management Initiative (Switzerland) contributing to professional development tools for aid organization safety and security management.<br />Chris holds a Masters degree in International Relations with major studies in human rights and international law.<br />

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What Risks?<br />Health & Safety<br />Security<br />Reputation<br />Financial<br />Risks to aid organizations and staff should not <br />be managed in isolation.<br />

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Whose Responsibility?<br />Donor? Organization? Individual?<br />Managing risks is a collective responsibility<br />Governed by law<br />

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How is the sector responding?<br />Increasing technical capacity (hiring of safety and security staff, etc.)<br />Information sharing (& Coordination?)<br />Policy and procedure development<br />

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Integration<br />Safety and security system forms part of usual business process.<br />Applies principles of both systems-based security and community-based security.<br />Responsibilities communicated at all management levels throughout the organization.<br />

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Systematic Response<br />Information & Knowledge Management<br />Plans & Procedures<br />Monitoring & Evaluation<br />Staff Management<br />Governance<br />Policy<br />Learning & Development<br />Finance<br />© Christopher Finucane<br />

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Governance<br />Leadership.<br />Sound system and process design.<br />Implementation of the system by staff.<br />

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Governance  Policy<br />Determine and communicate:<br />Clear performance benchmark<br />Risk threshold<br />

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Policy  Staff Management<br />Determine and communicate:<br />Policy positions<br />Responsibilities<br />

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Systematic Response<br />Information & Knowledge Management<br />Plans & Procedures<br />Monitoring & Evaluation<br />Staff Management<br />Governance<br />Policy<br />Learning & Development<br />Finance<br />© Christopher Finucane<br />

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Implementation<br />Key Points:<br />Staff attitude and behavior<br />Compliance and accountability<br />

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Conclusion<br />Leadership and management competencies<br />Informed decisions come from an informed<br />systematic approach to risk mitigation.<br />

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www.humanitarianpolicy.org<br />© Christopher Finucane<br />cfinucane@humanitarianpolicy.org<br />+44-(0)7590047863 (GMT)<br />

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Andrew Northover is a former intelligence officer in the Australian Army, including service in the Commando Regiment. Since leaving the military in 1997, he has provided systems-based risk management solutions to critical infrastructure projects within mining, exploration and supply chain sectors.<br /> <br />Andrew is Regional Director for Osprey Asset Management, a specialist provider of security risk management services. Previously, he was Principal Consultant at OPTARE Systems, an enterprise resilience consultancy that has developed web-based risk management and security applications for remote site operations.<br /> <br />Andrew has also worked as a consultant to International SOS, the world’s largest provider of emergency medical and evacuation services. He served as the regional intelligence analyst, responsible for monitoring, reporting and analysis of security incidents throughout the Asian region.<br /> <br />Andrew has a Masters degree in International Relations from the University of New South Wales (1995), and attended UNSW Graduate Law Program, prior to completing his final year on exchange at Boston College Law School. <br /> <br />Andrew is accredited as a Lead Auditor to conduct internal compliance audits in risk, safety and security management systems. He is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy (1989) and Royal Military College (1990).<br /> <br /> <br />

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Who is Responsible for Your Safety On Mission?<br />

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What is an acceptable level of risk? <br />"Aid Worker Security Database, a project of Humanitarian Outcomes<br />* Does not account for significant number of fatalities and disabling injuries sustained in vehicle accidents, workplace incidents, heart-attack, disease etc. <br />

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Who is responsible for your Safety?<br />Operations<br />Safety<br />Security<br />You?<br />

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Who is responsible for your safety?<br />Operations<br />Safety<br />Security <br />You?<br />….What is your own level <br />of Personal Responsibility?<br />

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Some key observations<br />OBSERVATIONS on humanitarian aid agencies/NGOs deployed in high risk locations:<br /><ul><li> Varied level of acceptance to security policy and procedures

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Lack of understanding on specific security threats

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Risk accepting organizations - maybe 'too risky’

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Risk-taking behaviors of individuals set low benchmarks </li></ul>“Individuals believe they won't be targeted as they are helping the community; and are prone to forget their affiliation with the organization that makes them a target” Security Consultant, Sudan<br />

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Contributing factors<br />Whilst no reason to justify excessive risk-taking behaviors, there are a range of contributing factors, including:<br />Experiences and lessons from previous missions not transferred or not applied to new environment <br />Lack of “real local” knowledge <br />Mix of nationalities, cultures, perceptions, concerns can skew what is happening on the ground <br />Not sharing information / inadequate threat analysis <br />

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Jaywalker…prudent risk management?<br /><ul><li> Situational Awareness

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Hazard Identification

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Risk Analysis

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Risk Mitigation</li></ul>*Risk-taking behavior assumes a level of Personal Responsibility <br />Acceptable Risk?<br />

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Everyone is their own risk manager<br />Managing personal safety and security <br />risk exposure should follow a process:<br />What is the context / my situation?<br />What risks and hazards can be identified?<br />What criteria for “scoring” is appropriate<br />What is acceptable / not acceptable?<br />What risk mitigation measures exist?<br />Is the residual risk still unacceptable?<br />Communicate and Consult with others<br />Anyone operating within a conflict, destabilized, weak governance or post-disaster <br />Environment must accept accountability for continually assessing risk to their <br />Life Safety and Personal Security.” <br />

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80/20 focus on key enablers<br />Security and safety induction training imbedded within the “business of operations”<br />Ongoing awareness training, including local staff<br />Assignment of risk ownership at all levels<br />Leaders with sufficient authority to sanction breaches within their direct management<br />Good monitoring, tracking and communication system of staff <br />Include security and safety as part of the program and deployment planning process<br />

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Where can I have greatest impact? <br />Regardless of what risk management standards, policy, system <br />and resources are deployed, there remains significant scope <br />for field operations to show leadership <br />Risk management controls<br />

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Thank you<br />

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Questions<br />

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HostsClaude BruderleinStephen MorrisProducer Anaïde Nahikian Technical DirectorJames BrockmanProduction TeamChristina Blunt Cecil HaverkampCatherine Sola<br />

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The Health and Safety on Mission Series<br />is produced by:<br />Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) <br />Harvard University School of Public Health<br />Sponsored by<br />For more information on this series, please visit:<br />http://on-mission.ning.com<br />