Fieldwork Safety Training

Fieldwork takes people to all corners of the UK and across the World. Over the last five years Fieldskills have specialised in running courses for University staff and students as well as others such as teachers involved in fieldwork.

Through our work we constantly come across frustration with risk assessment and crisis managment in fieldwork pre-planning. We understand this and have shared it ourselves with our own trips - but equally see the huge value it has if done constuctively.

The course emphasises making this planning constructive and useful to all involved. We use discussion groups and practical scenarios to develop a system of active documents which are adapted and applied in the field.

It is appropriate for:

• University staff running fieldwork or supervising others around the world.
• Students who want to learn more about setting up and running fieldwork projects and expeditions.
• Teachers involved in school fieldwork or expeditions.
• Anyone planning or interested in running their own expeditions or overseas fieldwork projects.

Attendees from students on their first fieldwork trip to highly experienced researchers find the fresh approach from experienced and approachable staff useful and thought provoking.

I feel much more aware of safety issues and more confident in problematic situations... The course is useful to get you thinking about things you may already know but don't always consider - looking at fieldwork in a different light

The course has been very popular with University departments wanting to prepare students to plan their own fieldwork trips. See more about the courses we have run for University groups and more testimonials on our University Training Page.

Course Content:

This 4 hour classroom based session is split between planning on paper and practical sessions to look at actively applying this paperwork:

Paperwork: We will look at the main documents central to fieldwork plans - the Risk Assessment and the Crisis Management Plan.

Practice: Risk assessments, crisis management plans etc are too often seen as a necessary evil which take up a lot of time and then sit mouldy in the bottom of a rucksack. Using a combination of discussions and practical sessions we will look at real life examples of why the paperwork is important and how it can be actively applied and adapted in the field.