Fieldskills Spreads Fieldwork Safety to Universities Countrywide

June 4, 2010 - PRLog -- On 3rd June 2010 health and safety staff from across Scotland came together at an event run by Fieldskills and hosted by Strathclyde University.  This one day session looked at a broad range of topics from getting the attendees involved in practical first aid scenarios to discussion of the difficulties of perception of risk in the fieldwork environment.

Many weird and wonderful issues related to fieldwork - being eaten by a tiger or swallowed by an anaconda – can be seen as high risk because of their unusual nature.  Indeed University fieldwork in general often takes people off the beaten track and to do activities that to the general public may seem strange, unnecessary and indeed dangerous.  However in fieldwork it’s often the common issues such as malaria and road accidents which are both most likely and most serious.  

People also become accustomed to the day to day risks of driving a car, or a skiing holiday – these risks become publicly acceptable, whilst activities which are unusual and sound dangerous, may actually be objectively much safer.

The issues of how to really assess risk in the field and how to be prepared incase things do go wrong are covered through Fieldskills’ unique training programs.  Using hands on scenarios and discussions about real life situations the courses encourage people to get actively engaged with risk management and emergency planning before and during fieldwork trips to ensure all can have safe and successful trips, even into remote areas.

For Universities south of the border Fieldskills will be running a second taster course at UCL on the 23rd June.  Please contact them directly if your University may be interested in sending a representative.

To find out more visit http://fieldskills.com/training

or email admin@fieldskills.com

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Fieldskills: First Aid, Expedition, Fieldwork & Travel Safety Training for individuals, expedition companies, universities, fieldworkers & businesses. We use our heritage in outdoor pursuits & expeditions to help others complete safe & successful ventures