Introduction to Duty of Care
Duty of Care (DoC) is a set of moral and legal obligations that managers and the organization have to provide a safe working environment for their personnel.
In terms of security, Managers have 7 key Duty of Care obligations:
Identify and assess the foreseeable risks to their personnel and operations
Implement mitigation measures to eliminate, avoid, or reduce foreseeable security risks to their personnel, assets, and the overall organisation.
Implement contingency measures to react to and manage security incidents.
Ensure personnel are informed of the risks and processes in place in order to deal with those risks.
Ensure personnel receive the necessary training, practice and instructions to manage and respond to the foreseeable risks relating to their activities and work environment.
Ensure there are sufficient qualified security personnel to implement the Minimum Security Requirement (MSR) and monitor compliance at the field, country and regional level.
Ensure that there is a security management system in place and that all the components (listed above) are working as intended.
Duty of Care is “WHAT” managers must do.
The MSR explains “HOW” it must be done.
The IFRC Minimum Security Requirement (MSR) sets the minimum acceptable standard for the management of security within the IFRC.