Approval Procedures for Fieldworkers traveling to High Security Risk Areas.

Our Duty of Care necessitates that we monitor carefully the movements of our fieldworkers and restrictions that apply to areas of High Security Risk.
In recognition of this responsibility we are guided by:

1. The warnings issued by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT).
2. Our own intelligence gathered from local sources in the areas concerned, as well as information provided by other National and International organizations.

The ACBM for the sake of uniformity, use the same Security Warning Levels as the Department of Foreign Affairs in Australia.

DFAT warnings are defined as follows:

1. Be alert to your own security.
2. Exercise caution.
3. High degree of caution
4. Reconsider your need to travel
5. Do not travel

In the case of DFAT warnings, levels 4 and 5 are considered ‘high risk’ and require specific approval by the National Committee before fieldworkers can enter these areas.

Fieldworker Applications to travel into areas of High Security Risk should firstly be considered and approved by the Area Working Team and then endorsed by the Regional Committee prior to being sent to the National Committee.

As at 1st May 2012, the following restrictions apply. This warning is updated ‘as and when required’.

Countries where National Committee Endorsement is required for fieldworkers

Areas within Countries where National Committee Endorsement is required for fieldworkers

Countries and Regions classified as ‘NO GO’ Areas.

If a fieldworker wishes to travel to any of the above, National Committee Endorsement is required.  This can be obtained by the Area Working Team putting together a case detailing the area, reasons why a fieldworker must go now, the experience of the fieldworker in this area, the precautions which will be taken during travel, and the expected time in the high risk area. Special forms are provided as attachments below. These will then be presented to the National Committee by the Regional Committee Secretary for their consideration. 

It is recommend that all Regional Committee and Area Team Secretaries access the dfat website http://smartraveller.gov.au and arrange for automatic emailing of dfat updates for their specific areas.

For your information, the following are the four warning levels provided by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and adopted by the ACBM:

1. Normal safety precautions.
2. Exercise a high degree of caution
3. Reconsider your need to travel
4. Do not travel.