Travel & Fieldwork Policy
Effective from 16 June 2012
Version Number: 1.1
Author: Safety/Fire Safety Officer
Health, Safety & Wellbeing
University of Salford
Travel and Fieldwork Policy v1.1
Document Control Information
Status and reason for development
Revised to update previous version.
Revision History
Date
Date
January
2015
Author
Claire
Whittaker
Summary of changes
Document transferred to new template.
Version
1.1
Authorised
N/A
June 2012
Claire
Whittaker
Document developed
1.0
Health and Safety
Committee
Policy Management and Responsibilities
Owner:
The Associate Director of Health, Safety & Wellbeing is the document owner and has
delegated responsibility for writing and amending this policy to the Safety/Fire Safety
Officer
Others with
All Students, Staff, Contractors and Visitors are responsible for engaging with and
responsibilities
adhering to this policy.
(please specify):
Assessment
Cross relevant assessments
Cross if not applicable
Equality Analysis
Legal
Information Governance
Academic Governance
X

X



X
Consultation
Cross relevant consultations
Consultation of the original policy took place through
the Health and Safety Committee.
Staff Trades Unions via HR
Students via USSU
Any relevant external bodies
(please specify) …………………………………..
Authorised by:
The Executive
14.05.2012
Date authorised:
18.06.2012
Effective from:
2 years from date authorised
Review due:
www.salford.ac.uk/hr
Document location:
www.salford.ac.uk/university/governance/policies-and-procedures
Document dissemination and communications plan:
The Safety/Fire Safety Officer will circulate to the Health and Safety Coordinators for the Colleges and
Professional Services to enable promotion throughout their area of responsibility.
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University of Salford
1.0
Travel and Fieldwork Policy v1.1
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to outline the University’s expectations of staff and students involved in travel
and fieldwork.
Specifically:



To comply with relevant legislation and regulations
To ensure participants in fieldwork remain safe and healthy
To ensure appropriate systems exist to deal with emergency situations in respect of fieldwork
2.0
Scope
Application of this policy will ensure compliance with the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974 and
the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
For the purpose of this policy the following definitions apply:


Fieldwork is any work, including travel to and from the fieldwork destination, carried out by staff or
students for the purposes of teaching, research or other activities whilst representing the
University off site.
Travel is any travel, which is not associated with fieldwork.
This policy applies to all staff, students and associates. It includes, but is not limited to, activities ranging
from attendance at conferences and recruitment fairs; recruitment and promotion of the University at
overseas destinations; undertaking social science interviews; and activities more traditionally associated
with the term “fieldwork” such as survey collection carried out by geologists or biologists. It does not
include students on work placements.
2.1 Personal Time and Down Time Definitions
Personal time is defined as time when programmed activities are not taking place but travellers or
fieldworkers remain under the general jurisdiction of the institution, e.g. resting in the hotel after a day’s
activities, or going to a restaurant for a meal, etc.
Down Time is defined as periods of time, occurring before, after or within the overall duration of the travel
or fieldwork, but outside the jurisdiction of the institution, e.g. extending the stay beyond the period of
travel or fieldwork by using leave entitlement and visiting a tourist attraction, etc.
3.0
Policy Statements
3.1 All travel must be properly planned and the University’s “Control Risks” website must be interrogated
during this process, in order to inform the planning process and any subsequent travel.
3.2 The University does not permit travel to destinations classified as Extreme Risk by reference to the
“Control Risks” website. Where the destination is classified as Extreme Risk, the risk cannot be mitigated
by the introduction of additional controls.
For High Risk destinations, detailed plans, in accordance with the advice on the Control Risks site, must
be developed and implemented. Staff must access the “Standing Travel Advice” section of the website for
specific advice.
Travel is not permitted to any location where the Control Risks Evacuation Planning Phrases specify:


Evacuate non-essential staff, or
Evacuate – full evacuation
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Travel and Fieldwork Policy v1.1
See Section 5.0 Related Documentation for web pages.
3.3 Staff and students must accept that they are representatives of the University of Salford and behave
in a manner which does not adversely affect the reputation of the University, or place themselves or
others at risk of injury or death.
3.4 Authorising Trips
All trips must be authorised as identified in Table 1 below.
Table 1
Trip Risk Classification(from
Control Risks Site)
Planning & Precautions
Authority to Authorise
Extreme
Travel Not Permitted
Travel Not Permitted
High
Develop a detailed safety plan,
which must comply with
PVC/Dean of College,
detailed requirements of
Director of Professional
Control Risks Information and
Service, Head of School
their Standing Travel Advice
section
Medium
Develop a detailed safety plan,
which must comply with
PVC/Dean of College,
detailed requirements of
Director of Professional
Control Risks Information and
Service, Head of School
their Standing Travel Advice
section
Low
Standard University risk
assessment requirements and
follow advice on Control Risks
site
Trip Planner or
Fieldwork Leader
Insignificant
Standard University risk
assessment requirements
Trip Planner or
Fieldwork Leader
3.5 The Registrar is responsible for:
a) Ensuring adequate arrangements exist for managing the risks associated with fieldwork;
b) Appointing competent staff to undertake the roles and responsibilities in respect of planning and
managing travel and fieldwork.
3.6 The PVC Deans of Colleges, Directors of Professional Services and Heads of School are
responsible for:
a) Authorising trips to medium risk locations (as defined on the Control Risks site), subject to ensuring a
suitable and sufficient assessment of risks has been completed and documented;
b) Ensuring a suitable plan identifying any necessary controls and the means of evacuating travellers is
developed and communicated to all parties;
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Travel and Fieldwork Policy v1.1
c) Ensuring that staff involved in planning, authorising or supervising of travel or fieldwork are competent
to do so;
d) Escalating matters of significant threat or risk to the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Registrar and Secretary,
as per the Code of Practice for planning and managing travel and fieldwork;
e) Empowering the Trip Planner or Fieldwork Leader to implement emergency or contingency plans if
necessary.
3.7 The Trip Planner or Fieldwork Leader is the person with delegated operational responsibility for all
aspects of the travel or fieldwork. They are responsible for:
a) Consulting the Control Risks Site when considering a trip, and before seeking authorisation or
authorising, as appropriate;
b) Consulting Control Risks staff directly by phone or email when developing the risk assessment (as
detailed in the Code of Practice);
c) Ensuring that a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the travel or fieldwork is undertaken and,
where significant risks exist, appropriate control measures are identified and documented;
d) Ensuring instructions issued to participants are comprehensible and appropriate;
e) Carrying out a dynamic risk assessment if necessary, i.e. when the risks are changeable;
f)
Monitoring and review any safety precautions identified to ensure they are observed for the duration of
the travel and fieldwork;
g) Where the fieldwork involves attendance at a conference, or other similar large scale event, for large
numbers of people, the fieldwork leader will undertake the risk assessment;
h) Ensuring that appropriate safety precautions are identified and implemented to minimise the risks to
an acceptable level;
i)
Identifying appropriate levels of supervision for the travel or fieldwork;
j)
Ensuring that the necessary insurance cover is in place and specific to the fieldwork or travel taking
place;
k) Ensuring robust emergency plans exist and are communicated to all relevant parties;
l)
Ensuring means of communication with travellers or fieldworkers exists and is maintained throughout
the trip.
m) Monitoring the level of any threat and alert the University to any change in the level of threat;
n) Escalating matters of serious threat to the PVC Dean, Director or Head of School;
o) Implementing emergency or contingency plans when necessary.
Where appropriate:
p) Allocating specific supervisory responsibilities;
q) Allocating a competent person to lead each sub-group, where groups are subdivided during the travel
or fieldwork;
r) Delegating explicit responsibility to the leader of each sub-group to know the total number and
identities of each of the participants they are responsible for supervising;
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Travel and Fieldwork Policy v1.1
s) Clearly identifying when command passes from the Trip Planner or Fieldwork Leader to others (for
example a diving organiser, or similar).
3.8 The Travel Team or Fieldwork Team is defined as two or more individuals who are conducting travel
or fieldwork to a common purpose; they may or may not have a designated Trip Leader or Fieldwork
Leader present during the work. They must:
a) Heed and observe any instruction given to them by a supervisor;
b) Raise any questions or problems, particularly where there is a lack of understanding, to the attention
of their supervisor;
c) Acknowledge their own responsibilities for the health and safety of themselves and others.
3.9 An Independent Traveller or Independent Fieldworker is defined as an individual who is
undertaking travel or fieldwork on their own without supervision; they must:
a) Acknowledge their own responsibilities for the health and safety of themselves and others;
b) Ensuring that a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the work is undertaken, where significant
risk exists;
c) Carry out a dynamic risk assessment if necessary, i.e. when the risks are changeable;
d) Monitor and review any safety precautions identified to ensure they are observed for the duration of
the trip;
e) Ensure that appropriate safety precautions are identified and implemented to minimise the risks to an
acceptable level;
f)
Ensure appropriate emergency plans exist and are implemented as required;
g) Monitor the level of any threat and alert the University Trip Planner or Fieldwork Leader to any change
in the level of threat.
3.10 A Fieldwork Participant is defined as an individual who is undertaking fieldwork as part of a
supervised group, they must:
a) Heed and observe any instruction given to them by a supervisor;
b) Raise any questions or problems, particularly where there is a lack of understanding, to the attention
of their supervisor;
c) Acknowledge their own responsibilities for the health and safety of themselves and others;
d) Understand the authority and responsibilities of the Fieldwork Leader, or any designated supervisor.
3.11 Insurance Requirements
The Trip Planner or Fieldwork Leader must determine the level and extent of insurance cover provided by
the University, and the limitations, before commencing a fieldwork trip or travel.
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It is worth noting that the University has arranged for the University’s travel insurance to be extended to
cover reasonable periods of Down Time (see definition in Section 3.0 Scope), but this extension has strict
limitations, which are set out in the insurance document available on the Finance Intranet. See section 7.0
Related Documentation for appropriate web pages.
As the University’s travel insurance policy has limitations in this respect, it is a requirement that travellers
and fieldworkers purchase personal travel insurance to cover those periods of Down Time which are not
covered by this travel Insurance.
The University will not accept responsibility for activities that take place during Personal Time and Down
Time.
3.12 The arrangements for implementation of this policy can be found in the Code of Practice for
Managing Fieldwork.
4.0
Policy Enforcement / What happens when the policy is not followed
The Health, Safety and Wellbeing department will monitor application and compliance with this policy as
part of the audit process.
Any significant non-compliance will be reported to the Deputy Vice Chancellor Registrar and Secretary;
the College Registrar; and the University Health and Safety Committee, as appropriate.
Failure to comply with this policy and associated code of practice may result in significant risk to the
safety of the travellers in addition to compromising insurance cover and may result in disciplinary action.
The arrangements for monitoring and reviewing this document will be as follows.
a) The application of this policy, and the associated procedures, will be reviewed as part of the formal
audit process.
b) All incidents involving travel or fieldwork will be recorded and reviewed to enable systems and
processes to be improved, where appropriate.
c) Where appropriate, formal post travel or fieldwork review will be undertaken, for example:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Where significant accidents or near misses have occurred
Occasions where dynamic risk assessments were needed
There was a significant change to plans or itineraries
Where unexpected training was needed during fieldwork
5.0 Related Documentation
Control Risks Website: http://www.crg-online.com/Headlines.aspx
Finance Pages http://intranet.salford.ac.uk/finance/cms/pages/category?id=21
Related Safety Documentation www.salford.ac.uk/hr
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6.0 Appendices
None applicable
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