Health and Safety of persons carrying out field work.
Guidance for Supervisors
All field work and associated laboratory work must be risk assessed before work commences.
Extensive guidance on field work risk assessment is available in the School Safety Manual and both the
NERC and UCEA documents on safety in fieldwork (links below). A number of generic risk assessments
have been produced for field work involving various terrains to aid the process further (available on the
school web page and sharepoint). Generic risk assessments must be tailored to the specific project.
Lone field working should only be undertaken if unavoidable. A “permission to work alone” form must
be completed and authorised by the academic supervisor once any identified risks have been reduced to
an acceptable level.
Supervisors must be informed of any medical or other issue that may impinge on the safety of individuals
on fieldwork, particularly when working alone. This information should be held by the supervisor in
compliance with the University's Data Protection Policy.
If any of the following health issues are indicated then it is the responsibility of the supervisor to advise
persons carrying out fieldwork to contact QUB Occupational Health: Tel: 028 9097 5520;
occhealth@qub.ac.uk
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Heart problems
Angina
Severe asthma
Diabetes
Epilepsy
QUB Occupational Health provides a wide range of services to the University for the prevention of work
related injury or ill-health. Services include pre-employment health screening, statutory health
surveillance and immunisations eg. Tetanus
NB. Remember that samples collected in the field maybe a source of human infection; for example rabies
in association with bats, enteric viruses in association with sewage/slurry samples or cryptosporidia in
association with sheep or cattle faeces. These factors should be included in your risk assessment.
In all fieldwork, a ‘reporting in’ procedure must be put in place to ensure the safe return of the researcher
each day. If field work extends over a number of days or involves overnight accommodation a plan of
sites to be visited each day would also be required.
Supervisors must check if health surveillance is required in relation to the proposed fieldwork.
Health surveillance is required if there is a risk of exposure to asthmagens and zoonoses, eg. working
with poultry. It is also required if there is exposure to substances known to cause severe dermatitis.
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A list of asthmagens is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/asthma/substances.htm.
The asthmagens and respiratory risks in agriculture are listed at
http://www.hse.gov.uk/asthma/agriculture.htm .
The zoonoses related to agriculture / rural exposures are listed at
http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/topics/zoonoses.htm .
General guidance is in the health surveillance recommendations under COSHH at
http://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/resources.htm
If the risk assessment indicates that health surveillance is required then advice on the nature of the health
surveillance should be obtained from Dr D Todd, Occupational Health Physician and appended to the risk
assessment.
If further guidance is required please contact Mrs Gillian Riddell g.riddell@qub.ac.uk or Dr. Rosaleen
Hynes r.hynes@qub.ac.uk
Forms to complete for field work:
Field Work Risk assessment
COSHH Risk Assessment if chemicals are involved
Permission to work alone (if applicable)
Health and Safety Questionnaire
Link to NERC Safety in Field Work document
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/about/policy/safety/procedures/guidance_fieldwork.pdf
Link to UCEA Safety in Field Work document
http://www.ucea.ac.uk/en/publications/index.cfm/guidance-on-health-and-safety-in-fieldwork