HEST 5 Day course attendee, April 2022 - Journalist
"The course offers good preparation for working in crisis areas or in critical situations.
- the week is packed with content.
- very good mixture of practice/theory and discussion rounds,
- Repetition of the practical parts in reasonable doses,
- the team of speakers is top-class with a lot of experience,
- communication and questions possible at any time, pleasant course atmosphere,
- the group with 12 (international) participants also enables a good exchange,
- Surroundings and accommodation at the chateau is a good setting
For Seasoned and Novice Travellers
'The training session, led by Charlie was well presented and clearly delivered, full of practical tips, and didn’t pull the punches on the ‘worst case’ scenarios, while remaining very grounded. I would highly recommend this as a refresher for seasoned travellers or as an introduction to travel safety for novices.'
Attendees from 2-Day HEST
'Really enjoyed it, very informative but never felt overloaded and most of all fun!
'Excellent, brilliant hospitality and food'
'Good pace to the lessons and the discussions over dinner were a good idea for emotional trauma chat
'Great explanations excellent reenactments, delicous food'.'.
HEST Course Attendee - Bayerischer Rundfunk
Thank you for having me at the EBU seminar "Hostile Environment Safety" last week!
The week was extraordinary! What lay not only at the scene - no question Schloss Hexenagger is a show in itself - but above all to the trainer: Inside! So honestly true, so pleasant, focused and professionally competent trainers: Inside I have seldom experienced. Hats off!
It was also a lively exchange among the students. They were colleagues: Inside from Finland, Norway, USA, Netherlands and Germany. Each was able to bring in his experiences and country-specific procedures and we were able to discuss them. I think there is added value for everyone.
So thank you again that I was able to participate in this seminar through the BR - it was very worthwhile and I can recommend it 100%. I now feel much more secure when it comes to my assignments for the BR, whether at home or abroad.
Gap Year Course Attendee
"16 years ago (in 2003), I did a gap year safety course, with Nick (?) if I remember correctly. What I learnt has subsequently kept me safe across six continents and many countries. I’ve just got back from travelling in the Middle East, incident free. I still use the ‘READE’ method, still don’t eat unpeeled / unboiled fruit/veg and always check my luggage before crossing borders etc. So I’d just like to say thanks for operating a business teaching lifelong skills that years and years later really do make travel safer, more fun and less problematic! That day at the cafe in London (Troubadour) taught me so much, If I hadn’t attended, I imagine I’d have not had the smooth travels I’ve had!"
Cycle Adventure from Scotland to Cape Wrath
"Charlie and the team at Objective Travel Safety tailored a one day training event for myself and my partner ahead of our cycle adventure from Scotland to Cape Wrath. Having spoken to many different companies, this was the first organisation who were able to offer a bespoke day which focused exactly on the countries we will be visiting, and the dangers we may encounter as cyclists".
"Charlie and the team at Objective Travel Safety tailored a one day training event for myself and my partner ahead of our cycle adventure from Scotland to Cape Wrath. Having spoken to many different companies, this was the first organisation who were able to offer a bespoke day which focused exactly on the countries we will be visiting, and the dangers we may encounter as cyclists.
Being just the two of us, we didn't have the same budget that a lot of corporate companies who elist these kinds of services do, but we managed to agree a workable solution with the team at Objective Travel.
The day itself was fantastic. We learnt an incredible amount in just a few hours, and feel much more prepared for our trip. Not only do we feel more comfortable with dangers we had concerns about, but Charlie opened our eyes to things we hadn't even thought about. We particularly enjoyed the role play, having the opportunity to test our learning first hand.
Couldn't recommend Objective Travel Safety more highly".
Euromoney
Charlie McGrath and the team at Objective Travel Safety have provided a range of excellent training programmes for Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC globally over the past four years, covering personal travel safety and security for employees, event security, and travel and security advice for female travellers. Annual training has been delivered through face-to-face workshops (both half-day and-full day) at our offices in London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.
As well as through webinars and online training to our 40+ offices in 25 countries. We very much look forward to further developing our training programme with Charlie and his team this year.
Toby Smith
Cris Padilla, Lucy Group CSR Specialists
"Charlie McGrath was engaged by Lucy Electric to provide Overseas Traveller Training to our staff to equip them with the necessary skills to travel safely and securely. Charlie exudes competence in his calm and comprehensive delivery of training programmes. He is extremely knowledgeable and provides real world examples and exercises to ensure his students understand the subject.
We were so impressed with Charlie in the UK that we then asked him to deliver training in India and the Middle East. Once again he exceeded expectations and was roundly complemented by all employees".
12 Years Working with Objective
Trust is at the heart of our partnership, real trust uniequivocal. When we hired Objective Travel Safety some 18 years ago, we were looking for a Company that would grow with us, meet our challenges. I wanted the relationship to become sustainable.
Working with journalists is not easy. Eurovision Academy wanted to develop a new concept of a Safety course that would match a journalist’s real life and work. We wanted to help reporters to pursue proper journalism without being killed or injured, without being broken or destroyed by the horror they can face, while coping with stress and keeping their minds sound and calm.
The course was developed around reporters‘ personal workflow: assignment to a trip, preparation, arrival on location, work and coverage of the story. The development of this new course required a lot of work and dedication, which they did with an immense enthusiasm and commitment. Objective identified the key areas for learning, created real scenarios so that the learning would definitely be fused with the personality of the reporter.
This is how we created HEST, our flagship Safety and Security programme. Since 2004, Objective has been developing and delivering 58 courses for 671 reporters and journalists from 40 countries.
In an increasingly dangerous environment, 671 reporters managed to keep safe while making their stories in risky and hazardous areas all over the world. This is a record which I am particularly proud of.
Reporters are transformed after the course, they better know who they are, they are equipped with a solid toolbox, they know how and what to improve on their behaviour. All 671 reporters, from the young inexperienced ones to the more senior field reporters, praised the course and Objective for what they learnt.
Secondly, a perfect communication pattern and framework has been established between Eurovision Academy and Objective Travel Safety, from the administration, to logistics, marketing and content. The code of conduct for our common dialogue is solid, informal and direct.
As a commissioner of the courses, I can always tell them how I feel and provide them with an honest feedback.. We continuously improve the course through participant’s feedback, commissioner’s debrief and also audit from external experts.
For 18 years, Objective Travel has been bringing to the table their unique experience and energy that expand and enhance our training services to our clients. Thanks to them, HEST has become the reference course on Safety and Security in Europe and beyond. They prove to be flexible, agile to answer in the best way. For Eurovision Academy, it was crucial to make it a success. Academy is the EBU’s corporate training centre. It fully supports the EBU’s strategy by delivering the most relevant courses for Members’ professionals from 73 Television and Radio broadcasters from 56 countries.
Thirdly, the skills they bring are unique, varied, always adapted to new situations. They provide the right answers: concrete, balanced, serious and calm.
A great team of former senior officers, trainers and operators from the British Special Forces, front-line media professionals, specialists in technical and IT security, medical experts.
A fantastic team obsessed with the quality of the course and open to improvement.
Finally, it is my privilege to make special note of the accomplishments of Objective Travel, Eurovision Academy provider for Safety and Security courses, and I would like to highly recommend them and praise them.
Dr A R Mitchell, Corporate Adviser, MRC
The Medical Research Council (MRC) of the UK have used Objective for a number of years to provide staff training on the potential hazards of overseas & UK travel. The trainer, Charlie McGrath, developed a bespoke course for the MRC which has proved very popular and educational for those attending. I would highly recommend Objective Travel Safety.
Bridget Marchi, JP Boden & Co Ltd
"Very useful", "invaluable advice" and "I had become complacent" were just some comments that we had from our predominantly female buying and shoot teams who travel to the four corners of the world. Charlie delivered a set of really enjoyable and relaxed sessions that gave our teams real food for thought and will help keep them safe in their travels"
Cranfield University
"An excellent training package and just what we were looking for: risk awareness and planning for travellers of all levels of experience. Charlie's relaxed delivery style is clearly based on years of experience and authority and gave us complete confidence in what he said. We all found the course informative and reassuring as individuals and as a company, and are all the better for having experienced it."
George Shaw, Travel and Security Advisor, HIV/AIDS Alliance
"Objective have been enormously helpful, not only in training our staff to travel and work safely in post conflict settings, but also in equipping the organisation with its Crisis Management needs. We cannot recommend their services highly enough.”
Stuart Caldwell, Health & Safety Advisor
"An excellent course which I’m sure we will run again in a couple of years. Charlie got the balance right between being informative without being over alarmist."
Gap Year Travel and Safety Course - January 2023
I wanted to feed back that Tatty LOVED the course. She went along in a slightly eyes-rolled, “do I have to do this” sort of mentality… and came back raving and saying how INCREDIBLY useful it was and how everyone should do it. She said how interesting your insights were and what an interesting set of experiences you had had! Given her particular speciality is setting off to climb a mountain in a T shirt and refusing to take advice on warm clothing (or waterproof clothing) EVER I am particularly grateful how struck she was by the advice on hypothermia!!
She is also v proud of her water bottle!
Thank you so much again!
Thank you for the HEST Course
Hi Charlie, Hope you're well. I wrote you, because I wanna to THANK YOU for everything you learnt me and of the EBU HEST course yours colleagues also. I was filming in Cairo from 28 of january to 4 of february and Im still alive because i follow almost everything I learnt in HEST. It was maybe the most heaviest filming that I came thru, we were in the middle of shooting, we were kidnapped, detained and many other "happy" things. THANK YOU Charlie for your training.
Thank you Objective!
Petr Svidenský, Czech television
World Habitat - Personal Travel Safety Course
We arranged an online personal safety training course for all our employees to participate in and it completely exceeded our expectations.
Objective were able to tailor the training to destinations, that as an organisation, we are more likely to travel to and this was so done so in great depth and the information was relevant and inspiring.
At every stage of the training, Charlie engaged each employee with thought provoking scenarios or questions. The session itself was very interesting.
Beforehand, we spoke regularly with Objective and through the expertise of Charlie we have been able to make more use of the extras which come with our insurance policy, as well as make adaptations to internal policies, processes and documents. Charlie really knows his stuff and it showed.