Hostile Environment Awareness Training HEAT

Course description

HEAT is an intensive 40-hour course that aims at training personnel to effectively deal with risk-associated and emergency/critical situations, while travelling or being posted to high-risk countries. The training is expected to improve participants’ understanding of the minimum behavioural field requirements when working as team members of an international mission/delegation/program irrespective of their national or professional background. The objective of the HEAT course is to offer to participants a specific safety and security awareness training through experiential learning and a combination of different didactic methodologies. 

Course target

The target group for this training is personnel of governmental and non-governmental organisations working or likely to be deployed in low/middle/high risk missions, who have preferably already attended a general introductory course on crisis management operations or gained relevant experience in international field operations. 

Training objectives 

The course overall objectives are to: 

• improve knowledge of multiple threats present in hostile field environments and of ways and means to prevent them and to deal with them in an effective manner to minimise their potential consequences
• rehearse and practice safety and security procedures in relation to specific threats and situations. 

Teaching methods

The training adopts a competence-oriented learning methodology and a didactical approach that is not solely based on learning but also and chiefly on competences to be developed. The program is also based on latest developments as it relates to the HEAT curriculum within the European Union Civilian Training Group, where a Training Requirement Analysis has been carried out on safety and security training needs in hostile environments and on the HEAT course curriculum adopted by ESDC for CSDP mission personnel. A compulsory pre-course task for participants will be the successful completion of the SAFE online course or comparable e-learning activity. This will serve to create a base knowledge on which the face-to-face course builds upon. 

Course programme

The Course content is clustered in ten modules:

1. Security and Safety of personnel deployed in hostile environments
2. Communications
3. Navigation & Orientation
4. Medical Skills & Health Maintenance on Mission
5. Stress management
6. Checkpoint negotiation (official & unofficial) including conflict management
7. Weapons, Mines, Explosive and CBRN awareness
8. Coping after capture
9. Working with close protection (CP) / convoy security
10. Field Training exercise

Attendance certificate

At the end of the Course the Sant’Anna School will issue a certificate of attendance to the students who attended at least 80% of the classes.

Course fee

The course fee is € 1.600,00 and includes tuition, lunches for the course duration, reference material and public liability insurance. Participants are responsible for covering their own travel expenses, breakfasts and dinners, as well as accommodation.