Field Course Risk Management: Start with the Low-hanging Fruit

Is your field-based education program time and resource limited?  If so, you might find that risk management planning keeps slipping to the bottom of your to do list.  I recently surveyed university faculty in ecology, geology, and geography about risk management training and protocols at their institution and 60% thought these systems were inadequate to manage the risks they face when teaching in the field.  I also spoke to several directors of not-for-profit field-based education programs and about half of them had concerns with their own risk management systems.  Both faculty and program directors cited a lack of time and money for risk management planning.  Given time and resource limitations, it might make sense to streamline your risk management system and start by collecting the low-hanging fruit.

 The concept of risk management is simple: avoid incidents in the field by managing course activities well. If there happens to be a minor incident in the field, instructors should be prepared to handle it – and have the option to call for outside resources if they can’t.  If the worst happens and there is a major incident, such as a threat to life or limb, systems should be in place that allow field staff to readily evacuate the injured person.

In order to accomplish these three simple goals, you need an emergency response system and well-trained field staff.  Emergency response planning can be a daunting task, but these five elements provide an important foundation for your program.

1. Field Communication Devices – Field staff should be able to contact someone at your program headquarters and emergency personnel while they are in the field, which means they should carry a cell phone, satellite phone, or rescue beacon. Some programs are choosing to use communication devices with two-way text messaging ability, so they don’t have to worry about dropped calls, which can be especially aggravating in mountains and canyons.  The communication device should get service throughout the course area and staff should practice using it before they need it in the field.
2. Emergency Call Sheet – Your staff should carry a list of phone numbers in the field that they can call in case of an incident. At a minimum this should include office, home and cell numbers for your program administration (or on call person), as well as the sheriff, search and rescue, and the nearest hospital. If you have a physical or psychological medical advisor, this person would be a useful contact as well.
3. On Call System – Your program should have an on call system that allows field staff to reach someone in the front country 24 hours a day.  The on call person can initiate an emergency response to a field incident or look information up on the Internet to assist with minor issues.  Some programs have a physical cell phone that they pass among front country staff and others secure a Google phone number that they forward to the personal cell phones of front country staff.
4. Emergency Evacuation Plan – Your organization should map emergency exit routes from key points on your itinerary, identify transportation routes to local hospitals or clinics, and include instructions on how to evacuate and who to call during the process.  Click here for a simple emergency evacuation plan template.
5. Incident Response Plan – This plan dictates how your organization would respond to a major incident (loss of life or limb) in the field.  Honestly, creating this document is no small task – especially if you are a department in a larger organization or work with partners or subcontractors – but you’ll want to consider how you’d respond to an incident before sending people into the field.  Some questions to consider include: Who will serve as the incident “commander” and organize the response from the front country?  How you will track information about the incident as it unfolds, such as where is the group? How many people are injured? Where are the nearest resources available to them?  Who will lead communication about the incident with other students, parents, your program staff, and the media?  Answering these few questions will get you started on your Incident Response Plan, but you can learn more at the Wilderness Risk Management Conference or an administrative risk management training.