Exploring Employer Duty of Care in NGOs

Duty of care is a moral and legal obligation an organisation needs to undertake to protect the health, safety, security, and wellbeing of its workers. 

For NGOs, Duty of Care means guaranteeing employees on international missions are safe and healthy, both mentally and physically, and that reasonable practical steps have been taken to protect them against any foreseeable risks.

Some years ago, a volunteer working for an NGO in Papua New Guinea contracted malaria and died. When a lawsuit was brought against the NGO, they were found guilty of failing to protect their volunteers in four ways:

• They failed to inform volunteers of the malarial risk 
• They did not train them to recognise symptoms of prevalent local diseases
• They didn’t provide them with anti-malarial drugs 
• They didn’t provide a support helpline for volunteers to use in case of emergencies

This is a good example of an organisation failing its duty of care to its employees.

While aiming to provide the necessary help required for duty of care for employees, NGOs may also face some challenges, despite being highly professional organisations. Many operate in hostile environments which can cause a safety-first approach. With such environments, this can be traumatic for staff. However, the obligation to help people in emergency situations sometimes may prevail over the need to take care of the organisation’s own workers. Professional commitment can come before personal wellbeing.

NGOs may also struggle with having such a globally widespread workforce – causing them to struggle with implementing wellbeing programmes for staff.

These challenges need to be overcome as the safety of NGO staff overseas is of core importance.

As an NGO you are aware of the best practises needed to apply the correct duty of care. A 'broad-based, holistic approach' should be undertaken to successfully do this. Find some of the best practice recommendations below for duty of care for your employees:

Risk assessments should be regularly updated and documented when sending employees on international missions. What risks are specific for a particular location and what measures can you take to mitigate those risks? 

Don’t wait for a crisis to think through your emergency response. Build an emergency response plan, and conduct training with key personnel. Detailed plans, measures and assistance must be in place to respond to emergency situations involving staff, regardless of the location.

A core element of a company's duty of care to employees is knowing where your employees are at all times. This helps understand risk exposure and assists with accountability in times of crisis. Invest in digital tools to leverage tracking, monitoring and information. Utilising an app for your employees to access the latest health and security information sends the most relevant location-based alerts and identifies vulnerable employees. Apps like  'Where's My Staff' are created to empower organisations with the technology to monitor staff locations with accuracy, especially for NGO staff working in remote or dangerous areas.  

Communication is critical for sharing information about specific risks as well as to account for staff and pass along instructions in the event of an emergency.

Provide your staff with safety and security courses, which include modules like security awareness, emergency first response, and dealing with different types of threatening situations. 

Aftercare is equally important. Support forreturningemployees who have been exposed to high stress environments should include a medical check-up, and counselling services. According to a report by the Antares Foundation, 30 per cent of aid workers report significant symptoms of PTSD upon returning from assignment. Burnout, distress and emotional and physical stress have also been experienced by aid staff after returning from an assignment abroad. An employer’s duty of care is to monitor your employees to ensure their psychological as well as their physical well-being is being looked after.

Protect the health and wellbeing of your employees with international health insurance specifically tailored to the needs of NGOs so you can continue to support those most in need around the world.  Find more ways to prioritise the well-being and safety of NGO workers abroad here.