Health and Security
Health and security impinge in many ways on MSB missions and on the following pages you can learn more about MSB's work to address health and security issues, where the focus is on the health of the individual and the group.
Here, you can read more about such matters as vaccinations, medical examinations and stress management as well as efforts devoted to security prior to, and during, working on a mission.
Health
Many of the MSB missions are undertaken in countries with a poorly developed infrastructure, where both basic as well as advanced medical services are either inadequate or non-existent. On certain missions, or during certain periods, there can be limited possibility for rapid medical evacuation. For this reason MSB as an employer stipulates medical standards for its field staff.
The purpose of these health requirements is to minimise the greater risks to health that overseas mission involves, and also to avoid serious injuries and/or cases of illness that may jeopardize the safety of the individual or the group.
It is important that individuals registered on the roster and those who are interested in joining the roster have an opportunity to learn more about the risks that can occur in those environments in which missions are undertaken, and about how MSB is taking active measures to combat them.
Before you participate in an mission, you will be told more about the medical services support that MSB offers, its recommended vaccinations and the health requirements that field staff must meet.
Security
Security is a central aspect that should characterize the entire mission. In preparation for a possible mission, a programme manager is given the task of producing a risk analysis of the mission area in order to determine whether the security situation in the area will permit MSB to dispatch field staff there. If the risk analysis shows satisfactory results, preparations for a mission are commenced.
The field staff should have completed the MSB induction course in which knowledge of personal security plays a central role. When the field staff in question attend the pre-deployment meeting prior to the mission, they are given specific security information about the region.
Among other things, they are told about the security situation in the mission area and what security measures MSB has taken in relation to this, what they ought to be prepared for and what to bear in mind during the mission.
During the entire mission, the field staff should maintain an active security awareness and make use of the tools and other items that they are allocated in order to minimize the security risks.