NGO Hostile Environment Awareness training

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​When lives depend not only on awareness, but on leadership and decision-making, preparation matters.

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Choosing a provider for Security, Risk and Crisis Management or Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) is not simply a matter of cost or course length. It is a decision that directly affects staff safety, operational continuity, and organisational responsibility.

Many providers offer theoretical frameworks. Far fewer deliver training designed and led by professionals who have personally managed security, risk, and crisis response for NGOs operating in hostile, conflict, and post-conflict environments recently.

This lived experience shapes training that moves beyond abstract models, focusing instead on realistic operating contexts, proportionate responses, and sound judgement under pressure.

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Experience that matters

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At Peritus Global Training, our courses are designed and delivered by practitioners with recent frontline experience across some of the world’s most complex operating environments, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Our instructors have held senior leadership roles such as Global Head of Safety & Security and Country Security Manager, with responsibility for protecting staff, managing crises, and maintaining operations in volatile contexts. They understand not only risk — but responsibility.

Training is delivered in a calm, professional, and non-ego-driven manner, with a focus on judgement, proportionate response, and practical decision-making. We avoid outdated or theatrical scenarios and instead run realistic exercises that directly support safer, more effective NGO operations.

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Training that genuinely prepares people for complex environments

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• Grounded in real operational experience

• Delivered by instructors who understand duty of care from both field and leadership perspectives

• Focused on practical capability and sound judgement — not checkbox compliance

• Scenarios are drawn from real incidents our instructors have personally managed during NGO operations in conflict and post-conflict environments – not generic templates or staged role-play

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What is Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) used for?

Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) prepares NGO staff, field coordinators, media teams and humanitarian personnel to operate safely and responsibly in insecure, high-risk or complex environments.

The training focuses on situational awareness, personal security, movement safety, decision-making under pressure, and recognising early indicators of deteriorating security conditions. HEAT is used to reduce avoidable risk, support duty-of-care obligations, and enable staff to make informed, proportionate decisions while deployed.

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Our Approach to Course Design 

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At Peritus Global Training, we deliberately avoid creating multiple course variants differentiated only by acronyms or minor content changes. 

Our focus is on building genuine capability — training people to a standard we would expect and trust in colleagues working alongside us in complex and high-risk environments. 

Core skills such as medical first response, sound judgement and crisis awareness are therefore treated as baseline requirements, not optional or premium add-ons. Our courses are designed to prepare individuals, teams and organisations to operate safely, think clearly under pressure, and contribute effectively when conditions deteriorate.

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About the HEAT Course

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The HEAT course focuses on how people actually operate in insecure environments — not how they are expected to behave in theory.

Training centres on situational awareness, movement safety, decision-making under pressure, and recognising how small behavioural choices can significantly reduce exposure to risk in complex or deteriorating contexts.

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Participants gain a clear understanding of how hostile environments develop, how threats evolve, and how individual behaviour, planning, and situational awareness can significantly reduce risk. The course emphasises the importance of understanding the specific context of the environment participants are deploying to, recognising that security conditions are dynamic and require continuous situational awareness and reassessment. Emphasis is placed on recognising early warning indicators and understanding how security incidents escalate.

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In humanitarian contexts, leadership responsibility does not always align neatly with job titles. When security deteriorates, decisions still need to be made — often under pressure, with incomplete information and real consequences. 

Our training prepares participants to support leadership, communicate risk effectively, and step forward responsibly when formal leadership is unavailable — ensuring teams do not stall during critical moments.

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What participants leave with

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• More capable, security-aware team members who understand how their individual decisions affect wider operations

• Improved ability to support ongoing programmes by recognising risk early and adjusting behaviour before conditions escalate

• Greater confidence in making informed, proportionate decisions under pressure, aligned with organisational duty-of-care responsibilities

• Practical awareness of how to communicate risk, support leadership, and contribute constructively during incidents or periods of uncertainty

• Increased preparedness to operate calmly and responsibly in complex, high-risk or deteriorating environments

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Understanding Context & Risk Evolution

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The course introduces structured context analysis, examining how Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental (PESTLE) factors shape security conditions and influence risk.

Participants learn to recognise early warning indicators, understand escalation pathways, and adapt behaviour and planning as conditions change.

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Personal Security, Movement & Operational Safety

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Personal security and movement form a core component of the training. Participants cover safe travel planning, movement management, checkpoints, vehicle safety, and proportionate responses to threats such as road traffic accidents, ambushes, or hostile encounters.

These elements are delivered in an NGO- and media-relevant manner, reflecting how teams actually operate in the field.

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Civil Unrest, Protests & Indirect Security Risk 

Humanitarian organisations frequently operate in environments affected by protests, demonstrations, strikes and periods of civil unrest. While NGOs are rarely the intended target, such events can expose staff to significant indirect risk through crowd dynamics, opportunistic violence, heavy-handed security responses and rapidly changing movement conditions.  

The training prepares participants to recognise early indicators of civil unrest, understand how demonstrations escalate, and make informed decisions to avoid exposure to collateral harm. Emphasis is placed on timing, route selection, situational awareness and knowing when to pause or disengage as conditions deteriorate. 

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Incident Response & Crisis Awareness

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Incident response and crisis awareness are addressed throughout the course. Participants learn how to respond during security incidents such as shootings, explosions, detentions,  civil unrest, or medical emergencies, with a focus on maintaining composure, communicating clearly and making informed decisions under pressure.

Particular attention is given to managing risk during fast-moving and ambiguous situations where humanitarian staff are not targeted but may still be exposed to serious harm. 

The course reinforces the importance of contingency planning, standard operating procedures and shared understanding within teams — reducing reliance on a single individual during crises. 

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During incident management, the preservation of human life is the overriding priority.

Our training reinforces the principle that people come before assets. While equipment, vehicles and infrastructure are important, they are always secondary to the safety and wellbeing of staff and affected communities.

Participants are trained to recognise when to disengage, abandon equipment or adjust plans in order to reduce risk to life — and to make these decisions confidently, proportionately and in line with organisational duty-of-care frameworks.

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Medical First Responder Awareness (Baseline Capability)

The course includes medical first responder training appropriate for conflict and high-risk environments, enabling participants to take immediate life-saving action until further support is available. 

Training covers catastrophic bleeding control (including tourniquets), penetrating trauma, chest injuries (including sucking chest wounds and chest seals), burns and gunshot wounds. 

Medical response is treated as a baseline duty-of-care capability, fully integrated with security awareness and decision-making — not as an optional or premium add-on. 

This training is delivered at an appropriate level for non-medical staff operating in remote or austere environments.

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Stress, Fatigue & Decision-Making Under Pressure

The impact of stress, fatigue and cognitive overload is explored, helping participants understand how pressure affects judgement, communication and behaviour.

Practical techniques are introduced to support psychological resilience, sustained performance and clearer decision-making during prolonged or high-stress situations.

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​Training Delivery Approach

HEAT training is delivered through a combination of classroom instruction, facilitated discussion and realistic scenario-based exercises.

Scenarios are designed to reinforce learning objectives and reflect real operating contexts, rather than test physical endurance or promote unnecessary risk-taking.

The course supports organisational duty-of-care obligations by improving individual awareness, preparedness and the ability to interpret risk from multiple perspectives, respond proactively and contribute to safer operations and more resilient teams.

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Indicative Course Modules

• Introduction to Hostile Environments & Risk Awareness

• Understanding Context: Political, Social & Environmental Drivers of Risk

• Personal Security Awareness & Behaviour in High-Risk Environments

• Situational Awareness & Early Warning Indicators

• Travel Risk Management & Movement Planning

• Checkpoints, Detention & Managing Hostile Encounters

• Civil Unrest, Protests & Indirect Threat Exposure 

• Communications Under Stress & Incident Reporting

• Incident Response: Actions During Shootings, Explosions & Security Events

• Medical Awareness & Immediate Life-Saving Actions (non-medical staff) 

• Stress, Fatigue & Cognitive Load: Impact on Decision-Making

• Psychological Resilience & Maintaining Performance Under Pressure

• Ethical Decision-Making & Responsibility in Humanitarian Contexts

• Emerging Threats: UAV / Drone Activity and Impact on NGO Operations 

• Scenario-Based Exercises (context-specific, proportionate, non-theatrical)

• Scenario Debriefs & Practical Learning Review

 Modules may be adapted to reflect participant experience, operating context and organisational requirements.

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Building Organisational Capability

Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) provides a foundational level of preparation for staff operating in hostile, conflict or post-conflict environments.

For organisations seeking to strengthen leadership depth, decision-making resilience and crisis response capability across teams, this can be further developed through our NGO Security, Risk and Crisis Management (SRCM) course. 

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Post-Course Developmental Feedback

Peritus can provide confidential post-course developmental feedback to support learning, professional development and sound judgement in higher-risk environments.

Feedback is observational and developmental in nature, highlighting:

• Observed strengths demonstrated during training

• Areas for further preparation and consolidation

• Suggested development pathways relevant to complex or higher-risk operating contexts

For organisational bookings, feedback may also support duty-of-care decision-making and internal learning processes.

This feedback is not a pass/fail assessment and does not constitute deployment authorisation. Responsibility for deployment decisions remains with the employing organisation.

Sample summary structure available to discuss during an initial conversation.

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Location & Accessibility
Our HEAT courses are delivered near Grantham in central England, providing easy access from across the UK. The location is well connected via the East Coast Main Line from London, the A1 road network, and East Midlands Airport for national and international travel.

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Accommodation:​

Discounted accommodation rates are available at the training venue.
Please contact us for details.

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Contact:

To discuss how our courses can support your organisation or career pathway:
✉️ info@peritusglobaltraining.com