Travel/Fieldwork

Fieldwork, by its very nature, can be extremely varied and can cover many disciplines. Universities must exercise a "duty of care" to employees and those that they supervise, no matter what the fieldwork activity entails. Whether it’s a trip to a city center museum in the UK, or the collection of sediment from a lake in Greenland. This duty is recognized in both criminal and civil law. (See 2.”Legal requirements”). It is therefore necessary for Schools and Departments to ensure that fieldwork is properly planned, approved, risk assessed and that a safe system of work is established for, and communicated to, all relevant staff and students.

This policy and guidance provides a framework for establishing a process that will enable staff, students and others to undertake fieldwork safely. It provides a way of demonstrating that Loughborough University is following best practice to manage fieldwork, thereby facilitating it in the most challenging of environments and circumstances.

It also reflects the standards set out by the current UK health and safety guidance on fieldwork; “Higher Education Sector Guidance on Health and Safety in Fieldwork and Travel”, as published by the Universities Safety & Health Association (USHA). (Go to the University Health and Safety website for the USHA and University fieldwork guidance; USHA Guidance)