Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, thousands of engineers, project managers, consultants, NGO staff and technical specialists have travelled to Ukraine to support reconstruction, humanitarian programmes and commercial projects.
Many organisations focus considerable effort on logistics, accommodation, insurance and travel arrangements. These are all important considerations. However, one question is often overlooked:
Are your people actually prepared to work in Ukraine?
Ukraine is not Iraq in 2005 and it is not Afghanistan in 2010. Equally, it is not a routine European business destination.
Personnel operating in Ukraine may encounter risks that most business travellers have never experienced, including:
- Air raid warnings and missile attacks.
- Curfews and movement restrictions.
- Disrupted communications.
- Unexploded ordnance.
- Medical emergencies in austere environments.
- Psychological stress associated with operating in a conflict-affected country.
The challenge for employers is not simply managing these risks. It is demonstrating that reasonable steps have been taken to prepare staff before deployment.
Historically, organisations deploying contractors into Iraq and Afghanistan used programmes known as CONDO (Contractors on Deployed Operations) training. The purpose was not to turn civilians into soldiers. It was to ensure that personnel understood the environment they were entering and could operate safely, confidently and effectively.
The same principle applies today.
A well-designed pre-deployment programme should help organisations:
- Demonstrate duty of care.
- Improve staff confidence.
- Reduce operational disruption.
- Improve resilience during incidents.
- Support travel risk management processes.
- Prepare personnel for Ukraine-specific risks.
At Lazarus Training, our Ukraine Deployment Readiness Programme has been developed specifically for organisations deploying personnel into Ukraine. Click here to learn about our UK-based course.
The programme combines practical first aid, personal safety, risk awareness, communications, movement planning and incident response into a realistic and relevant package for civilian personnel.
Most importantly, it provides organisations with confidence that they have taken meaningful steps to prepare their people before deployment.
Training itself is not the objective.
Readiness is.
If your organisation is deploying personnel to Ukraine and would like to discuss practical duty-of-care measures, we would be pleased to talk.