Fieldskills and Training Expertise have been delivering such university fieldwork safety training to universities including Oxford, Leeds, Nottingham and Bristol since 2008. Now working together under the banner of Training Expertise they aim to instil best practice and skills through practical scenarios and group discussions in their university fieldwork safety training for students and staff planning on carrying out fieldwork. To give you a flavour here are some key points regarding fieldwork safety.
Being eaten by a tiger may seem like the biggest danger on fieldwork, but it’s the more mundane things like malaria and road accidents which have to be planned for; they’re pretty likely to occur and have big consequences: the perceived dangers vs. real dangers. This is especially true in remote environments where pre-planning comes into its own if dealing with an incident when far from help, and is the reason fieldworkers should produce comprehensive risk assessments.
Risk assessments are usually accompanied by a groan and feeling of despair: a tedious bit of paper work towards the ultimate goal? Not so. These bits of paper are the key to being able to deal with any problems. Risk assessments allow fieldworkers to identify risks, reduce any danger to acceptable levels and ultimately carry out safe and successful fieldwork. But the whole team needs to be aware of the risk assessment – how can it work to protect them if they don’t know it exists? The risk assessment should be altered dynamically in the field to deal with changing conditions, usually done by writing a field diary.
The key message is not to be put off once starting to think about all the things which could go wrong on fieldwork. Fieldwork is challenging, before during and after, but completing thorough pre-planning ultimately leads to safe and successful fieldwork.
Training Expertise university fieldwork safety training can be tailored to any fieldwork being undertaken: from urban environments to the depths of the jungle. Specialist knowledge is conveyed in a fun, hands-on manner by experienced trainers, who come to universities for anything from a few hours to a few days depending on university requirements.
To find out more visit http://www.training-expertise.co.uk
or email info@training-expertise.co.uk
