Illuminating the significance of health and safety and situational awareness while covering conflicts and civil unrest in journalism

Safety Training in News Production

Journalists and members of the news industry often work in conflict or civil unrest situations to ensure that the public is kept up to date on important matters. We were asked to work with a docuseries production to train and prepare cast and crew with tools to decrease the risk of injury, illness, and fatality by equipping them with the knowledge to be situationally aware while in the field.

In addition to this project taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were also risks associated with civil unrest due to political and social issues. This required unprecedented health and safety support, guidance, and training to work in public places where the risk of virus transmission was high. With over a decade of experience supporting news crews, our team developed a situational awareness training program for cast and crew. The program included discussions of planning and preparation, risk assessment methods, and tools to increase safety, security, and mental health awareness while on assignment and after production. Further, our team described the risks that production members should consider during planning including technical, physical health and safety, psychological, and team or personal limitation risks.

Following our work, the cast and crew were equipped with the knowledge, tools, and techniques to mitigate hazards and implement best practices in conflict and civil unrest environments.