Field Research Safety

Before You Go

1. Book an appointment with Student Health for a Travel Consult at least 4 weeks before your trip, and learn about recommended vaccines and prescription medicines based on your destination and activities. 
   Choose Schedule an Appointment, Travel Services, Travel Consult and follow the booking steps.
   Group consultations for field trips are also available. 
2. The best practice is to develop a Field Safety Plan; a completed Field Safety Plan is required to borrow equipment from EH&S. 
3. Complete training:
   • Complete the Heat Illness Prevention Training available on the UCSB Learning Center.
   • The best practice is to get trained in Field First Aid or Wilderness Medicine.
4. If your field site is within the US, your US health insurance will be your primary medical insurance for any emergency treatment. If the field site is outside the US, your primary medical coverage will be the UC Travel Insurance. For travel outside of California, register your travel in the UC AWAY system to receive travel alerts from UC’s security partner Crisis24.  
5. Students and volunteers must sign a Waiver of Liability.

2024 UC Field Safety Leadership Retreat

Related information will be posted on the Event Website (training.ucr.edu/fieldworkleadership2024).

The retreat featured timely, challenging workshops with opportunities to discuss scenarios, practice skills, and plan for specific field projects and settings. 
Content from past events is compiled in the UC Field Safety Leadership Training Library. 

Safe and Inclusive Fieldwork

The National Science Foundation (NSF) requires plans for safe & inclusive off-campus and off-site research, effective January 30, 2023. A written plan is required per the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) 23-1 for NSF-funded research; see NSF PAPPG (2023)

The plan must describe how the following types of behavior will be addressed:

• Abuse of any person, including, but not limited to, harassment, stalking, bullying, or hazing of any kind, whether the behavior is carried out verbally, physically, electronically, in written form; or
• Conduct that is unwelcome, offensive, indecent, obscene, or disorderly.

Action Required: PI/s need to sign and submit a plan to the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) before SPO will approve the proposal being submitted to NSF. Contact SPO for additional information on this plan.

Additional resources & training is available to promote safe and inclusive field experiences. The UC Fieldwork Toolkit Leadership Training Series features topics on preventing harassment in the field, creating safe learning environments, promoting safe fieldwork culture for diverse researchers, and more.