Harbour Energy and the HALO Trust, the world's largest landmine clearance organisation, are expanding their partnership to strengthen safety in humanitarian mine action and to support conflict-affected communities to build resilient futures.
The collaboration, which commenced in January 2026, is enhancing HALO's global operations by improving safety-critical training for more than 8,500 frontline staff across 30 countries and accelerating innovative, evidence-led approaches to risk reduction. Together, the organisations aim to ensure that those working every day to remove the deadly debris of war have the tools, knowledge, and protection they need to keep themselves and their communities safe.
Kick Sterkman, SVP Corporate HSES, Harbour Energy, said:
"Our collaboration with HALO on Project Safety has allowed for more than 2,000 face-to-face interviews to capture the day-to-day experiences of HALO deminers, resulting in actionable learnings that can not only be implemented at HALO but shared to broaden understanding of operational safety in complex environments. I'm delighted that we've decided to expand our partnership so that we can continue to share learnings and make a positive difference."
Putting people first: a shared commitment to safety
For more than 35 years, HALO has operated in some of the world's most dangerous settings, clearing landmines and explosive remnants of war so that families can return home, farmers can cultivate their land, and children can walk to school without fear. Safety is fundamental to every aspect of this mission.
James Cowan, HALO's CEO, said:
"We are extremely grateful to Harbour Energy for investing in this essential part of HALO's mission. Every day, thousands of HALO deminers head out to work in some of the world's most challenging conditions, clearing landmines, bombs, and other remnants of war so that families can rebuild their lives in safety after conflict.
We are committed to continually learning and improving our safety systems to protect our people to the highest standard and to honour the deep trust that local communities place in us. This expanded partnership with Harbour Energy will further strengthen HALO's training and procedures, drawing directly on the daily experiences of our frontline staff and reinforcing safety at the core of everything we do.
As a global operator working across complex and challenging environments, Harbour Energy places health and safety at the centre of its business. Since 2024, HALO and Harbour Energy have partnered to leverage their complementary safety expertise, helping to strengthen training, leadership and safety in demanding operational contexts, as well as supporting the development of a robust organisation safety culture at the HALO Trust."
Translating research into real-world impact
Throughout 2026, HALO and Harbour Energy are delivering a series of initiatives designed to advance HALO’s safety systems and improve the training and tools available to staff worldwide, as well as bringing key insights back to Harbour.
Key focus areas include:
- Trialling new safety approaches, directly informed by feedback from frontline staff.
- Strengthening HALO's systems for learning from adverse events and sharing lessons across programmes.
- Sharing insights on factors that influence performance variability.
- Enhancing safety training materials with improved visual content and AI-generated videos to support consistent, scalable learning across HALO's multilingual workforce.
This work builds on a pioneering joint research study undertaken by HALO and Harbour Energy in 2025, where independent researchers carried out face to face interviews with over 2,000 HALO deminers across nine countries. Their insights have shaped the next phase of the partnership, ensuring that new safety initiatives respond directly to the daily experiences of staff on the minefield.
From safety to resilience
The partnership reflects Harbour Energy's commitment to responsible, community-focused investment and aligns with its community investment focus areas:
- Education – improving critical safety training for HALO staff and enabling safe access to learning in mine-affected communities, where hundreds of thousands of children are cut off from education or face daily dangers on their way to school.
- Health and wellbeing – protecting HALO staff and local communities from explosive accidents, and restoring safe movement and land access so families can reach medical care and grow nutritious food.
- Reducing poverty – when land is cleared of mines, communities can safely expand farming, grazing and other income-generating activities, strengthening livelihoods and supporting long-term economic security.
- The environment – by making land safe again, demining enables conservation efforts and supports responsible environmental management, helping to protect and revive landscapes for future generations.
By combining HALO's operational expertise with Harbour Energy's commitment to safe operations and community investment, the partnership aims to set a new benchmark for safety in humanitarian mine action while helping war torn communities move from risk to resilience.
This evolution of the partnership and further work with HALO builds on Project Safety, a joint research initiative being undertaken with members of our HSES team.
This further funding will support enhancements in HALO's standard operating procedures, help to conduct micro-experiments to test safety innovations, and strengthen their reporting and learning systems, including the use of AI to help with accessibility of learning.
