What is duty of care for NGOs?

Duty of care is the legal and ethical obligation for NGOs to take reasonable steps to protect their staff from foreseeable harm. This includes providing security briefings, travel risk assessments, emergency protocols, and appropriate insurance coverage for employees working in high-risk regions.

What are the legal requirements for NGO staff safety?

Legal requirements vary by jurisdiction but generally include conducting risk assessments before deployments, providing security training, maintaining emergency communication systems, carrying appropriate insurance, and documenting safety procedures. ISO 31030 provides the international standard framework.

How can NGOs meet duty of care on a limited budget?

Start with documented risk assessments and security protocols. Use affordable intelligence services like Region Alert ($499/mo) instead of enterprise platforms. Train staff on situational awareness, establish check-in procedures, and ensure adequate insurance coverage. Documentation is key for legal compliance.

What happens if an NGO fails its duty of care?

Failure can result in lawsuits from injured staff, loss of donor funding, reputational damage, and regulatory penalties. In some jurisdictions, organizational leaders can face personal liability. Several landmark cases have established that employers cannot claim ignorance of foreseeable risks.

Does duty of care apply to short-term volunteers?

Yes. Duty of care obligations extend to all personnel including short-term volunteers, consultants, and contractors. Organizations must provide the same level of security awareness, emergency protocols, and insurance coverage regardless of employment status or deployment duration.

NGO Duty of Care 2026: Legal & Safety Checklist

Updated: February 2026 · 8 min read · By Sean, Region Alert Founder

In 2024, an aid worker was killed in South Sudan after her organization failed to brief her on a deteriorating security corridor. The internal review found the threat had appeared in local-language media 72 hours before the incident.

Duty of Care, the legal and ethical obligation to protect employees and contractors from foreseeable harm, is not optional for NGOs operating in challenging environments. Failure exposes organizations to lawsuits, staff attrition, and, worst of all, preventable casualties.

What is Duty of Care?

Duty of Care requires organizations to:

Assess risks before deploying staff to new locations
Inform staff about known hazards and security conditions
Prepare staff with appropriate training and resources
Monitor conditions during deployments
Respond effectively to incidents and emergencies
Support staff during and after challenging assignments

Legal Framework

Duty of Care obligations come from three main sources:

Common Law (UK, US, Commonwealth)

Employers have a common law duty to provide a safe working environment. This extends to overseas assignments and includes the obligation to inform employees of known risks.

Statutory Requirements

UK: Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
US: Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
EU: Framework Directive 89/391/EEC

Contractual Obligations

Employment contracts and organizational policies may create additional Duty of Care obligations beyond statutory minimums.

💡 Key Legal Principle

Organizations can be held liable for harm that was foreseeable and preventable. This means both assessing risks before deployment AND monitoring conditions during assignments.

Duty of Care in Practice

1. Pre-Deployment Assessment

Before sending staff to any location:

Review current security conditions and recent incidents
Assess specific risks based on the role and activities planned
Evaluate individual staff vulnerabilities (health, nationality, gender)
Document the assessment and mitigation measures

2. Staff Briefings

All traveling staff should receive:

Current security situation briefing
Specific threat information relevant to their assignment
Emergency procedures and contact information
Health and medical considerations
Cultural and legal briefings

3. Ongoing Monitoring

During deployments, organizations must:

Monitor developing situations in real-time
Communicate relevant updates to deployed staff
Maintain regular check-in schedules
Have protocols for escalating concerns

For a comprehensive framework covering all stages of travel risk management, see our complete Travel Risk Management guide. Organizations should also ensure their programs align with ISO 31030 compliance requirements.

✓ What Good Looks Like

A well-implemented Duty of Care program means staff receive daily briefings on local conditions, know who to contact in emergencies, and leadership can demonstrate they took reasonable steps to inform and protect their team.

Common Duty of Care Failures

Five patterns cause most Duty of Care failures:

Relying on outdated information: Using travel advisories that haven't been updated in months
Ignoring local sources: Missing threats that aren't covered by international media
No monitoring during deployment: Staff are briefed before travel but not updated on changing conditions
Inadequate documentation: Unable to demonstrate what risk assessments were conducted
Language barriers: Missing critical local-language intelligence

Implementing a Duty of Care Program

Duty of Care Implementation Checklist

Assign a security focal point responsible for travel risk management
Create a travel approval process that includes risk assessment
Establish pre-travel briefing procedures
Set up real-time monitoring for regions of operation
Implement check-in protocols for traveling staff
Create incident response procedures and escalation paths
Ensure staff have emergency contact information
Document all risk assessments and decisions
Review and update procedures quarterly
Train leadership on their Duty of Care responsibilities

The Role of Real-Time Intelligence

Duty of Care without real-time intelligence is a liability. Static travel advisories go stale within days. Effective monitoring requires:

Local sources: International news runs hours or days behind local developments
Multiple languages: Critical information often appears only in local languages. Pashto, Tigrinya, Bahasa
Continuous monitoring: Situations shift fast; daily briefings are the minimum standard
Actionable format: Intelligence should tell staff what to do, not just describe what happened

Close the Intelligence Gap

Region Alert delivers daily briefings in 100+ languages so your team gets actionable intelligence on every region where they operate, replacing stale travel advisories with ground-truth monitoring.

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Key Takeaways

Duty of Care is both a legal obligation and an ethical imperative
Key elements: assess, inform, prepare, monitor, respond, support
Organizations must demonstrate they took reasonable steps to protect staff
Documentation is critical for demonstrating compliance
Real-time intelligence is essential - outdated information is a liability
Invest in local-language monitoring to catch threats early

Sean Hagarty, Founder

After experiencing firsthand how quickly situations can change in challenging regions, I built Region Alert to help organizations fulfill their Duty of Care with real-time, local-language intelligence.

Duty of Care for NGOs in 2026: Legal Requirements & Implementation Guide