Supervision & training

Overview

Introduction

• A key control measure for ensuring the health and safety of personnel in the field is supervision. This particularly applies to students who are often less experienced and therefore more vulnerable than staff under field conditions.
• Field work leaders and supervisors (in most cases the academic supervisor) must:
  • be adequately trained and competent in the work to be undertaken
  • have any necessary skills such as first aid training
  • be capable of leading a team in the field
  • be knowledgeable of the hazards involved and aware of appropriate measures to control risk
  • be fully conversant with emergency procedures
  • ensure that each individual in the group has a general appreciation of key hazards and appropriate control measures to be followed
• Where appropriate, organisers may appoint one or more fieldwork leaders to act on their behalf in the field. This may be necessary when parties are split into sub-groups or when a person other than the academic supervisor has more experience of a locality or work process; such appointees may not necessarily be employees of the University (e.g. boat-skippers, mountain guides, site foremen). In law, responsibility devolves along the chain of command. If the field trip leader is not the most senior person present, this should be made clear at the outset. It should be clearly understood by all fieldworkers that they are in a work situation and are acting under supervision.
• It is the responsibility of individuals to understand, heed and observe any instruction given them by a supervisor and to bring any questions or problems to the attention of their supervisor.
• If the work is in a remote or hazardous environment, then wherever possible a detailed and accurate itinerary should be deposited with a suitable person (e.g. hotel owner) or organisation (e.g. police, coast guard, mountain rescue team). Independent workers should do this on a daily basis and also maintain communication on a planned basis. Suitable response action should be decided upon in advance in the event of contact times being missed. It is essential that the fieldwork group is aware of emergency response plans as this will affect their behaviour e.g. stay put if lost in bad weather while search and rescue is actioned by the base/control.
• Supervision levels for fieldwork will vary tremendously. An inexperienced group of first year students will require a higher level than is appropriate for postgraduates or other experienced staff. While fieldwork cannot usually be as closely supervised as other activities, the leader must ensure that the level of supervision is adequate for a given situation.
• Three different levels of supervision are recognized:

• fully supervised courses
• field expeditions
• lone working

Supervised

Fully Supervised Courses

• These will normally be of short duration (a working day or less) and conducted in low hazard environments involving inexperienced workers (e.g. Undergraduate Students); although visits to tidal zones, rugged terrain, industrial sites or urban localities for sample collection or observation can have their own associated risks, which should be assessed beforehand.
• Participating students may be inexperienced; safety instruction should be an integral part of the excursion and they should be made aware of any local rules applying to industrial or commercial sites. Students should not normally be allowed to work independently and must not be intentionally exposed to hazardous situations.
• Consideration should be given to staff/student ratios, which may vary according to the activities being carried out and the nature of the site being visited. Each group should have an experienced staff member as leader, supported by other experienced staff wherever possible or by other suitable appointed supervisors (e.g. postdoctoral researchers or postdoctoral students of suitable experience and maturity). As a basic standard, the maximum number of inexperienced students involved in low risk activities (e.g. geological or botanical specimen collection, or surveying) in reasonably rugged countryside during the summer should be 10 per experienced staff member.
• Each party should contain at least two staff members to ensure adequate deputising provision, this is to cover for supervision and specific competencies e.g. driver, first aider, in case of incapacity. Maximum and minimum party sizes should be set bearing in mind the environment, the activity to be undertaken, and the logistics of foreseeable emergencies. For instance, parties of more than 15 inexperienced people may be difficult to manage in rugged country and a minimum of 4 people to a sub-group will mean that, should an accident or injury occur, one person can stay with the casualty while two others go for help.

Expeditions

Field expeditions

• Such trips may be prolonged and in environments which are remote and potentially hazardous. Participants will normally be experienced and / or will have received instruction in work techniques and safety procedures.
• Special leadership training may be required for supervisors or leaders, and the Head of Department must be satisfied that the person(s) is capable and competent to lead the group, especially in emergency situations.

Lone working

Lone working

• Working alone is to be discouraged as far as possible but it is recognised that in some situations it is not reasonably practicable to avoid it. Lone working should be permitted only after a thorough assessment of the risks has been carried out, taking into account the nature of the work, the hostility and location of the site and the experience of the worker.
• A safe system of work should be prepared to, as far as is reasonably practicable, to safeguard the health and safety of the fieldworker and to reduce risks from foreseeable hazards to an acceptable level
• There are specific situations where lone working is highly inadvisable or contrary to legal requirements (e.g. work in confined spaces, fumigation or diving operations).
• In most cases the lone worker will be a post-graduate or final-year undergraduate student undertaking project work. The student should be involved in the risk assessment process and all parties must be aware, in so far as health and safety is concerned, that the student is still under the supervision of the academic supervisor, even though that person will not be present on site.
• Before students leave to commence fieldwork, the supervisor must know their destination, the nature of the work and the estimated time of their return. Students should also advise the supervisor upon completion of the fieldwork, appropriate emergency plans need to be in place should the lone worker fail to check in at the arranged time. Supervisors must formulate clear guide-lines on the scope of activities which may be undertaken alone, the types of terrain where these may take place, the supervisory arrangements (e.g. checking-in, emergency plans in case the lone worker fails to check in) and the training and experience required on the part of the student.
• Because the lone worker may be at greater risk than a group member, it is important that an effective means of communication is established. Any safe system of work should include arrangements to determine the whereabouts of a lone worker and contingency plans in case of failure to make contact. As well as the danger of personal injury, the possibility of exhaustion or hypothermia should be considered, although any such risk should have come to light during the risk assessment and would strongly mitigate against lone working.
• Checks on lone workers need to be on a regular and planned basis. The frequency should be dependent on the nature of the activities and the perceived risk. Lone workers must ensure that their daily itineraries are known locally and that some responsible person (e.g. hotel owner, local police) will raise the alarm if they fail to return at the end of their specified working period.

Training

Training

• Various skills may be required for field trips and it is important that personnel are adequately trained before or during the expedition. In groups engaged in trips to remote locations, at least two staff members must be appropriately trained in emergency first aid; if the expedition is particularly remote or long-term there might be a case for training all group members in first aid, survival, and rescue techniques.
• At least one other member should be qualified to take over should the leader become incapacitated, and at least one reserve driver, (or pilot or boat-handler etc.) should be included in the party. Where activities take place on or near water then consideration must be given to the level of swimming competence of the participants (ability to swim at least 50 metres would generally be appropriate).
• The training of leaders is particularly important and for some activities it may be appropriate to seek formal qualifications (e.g. mountain leadership, sub-aqua etc.) beyond those directly connected with the work itself.