Acquire Guidance: Academic Field Trips

Academic field trips enhance the learning experience for students and provide other valuable educational benefits. They also involve the potential for increased risk to participants and the University. The advice contained herein is designed to assist academic departments in managing and minimizing this potential increase in risk.

The itinerary and all aspects of the field trip should be planned in advance by the department, including identifying and addressing potential safety risks. The itinerary should be communicated to the participants, and it should include their roles and expected participation, behavior, any special clothing/ equipment needed during each itinerary activity, and any hazards, dangers, or physical challenges that may be encountered, for example a long set of steep steps .  Ask participants to inform you of any disabilities or special needs that may require accommodation and address these prior to the trip.  

A University representative should be present and responsible for the field trip, and that person should incorporate into the planning process any safety considerations necessary to provide for a safe trip. For example consider whether the class will need to be broken up into smaller groups to accommodate the specific site environment.  Also keeping a list of cell phone numbers for your students and making sure they have the cell phone number for the University representative(s) on the field trip.  Emergency contact information should be obtained on all participants involved with the field trip.

Thoughtful consideration should be given to how emergencies or the need for medical assistance will be managed, and that should be communicated to all participants.  Depending on the nature of the field trip, this can be an informal process that focuses on how to access local medical or emergency assistance at the field trip location, for example list the phone numbers and address for the closest medical facility, or in situations where students will be in remote locations with limited access to medical/emergency assistance the planning for safety and medical emergencies should be more formalized and documented, for example develop a written and detailed  sequence of steps to be followed should emergency medical assistance be required and the injured party cannot walk and needs to be evacuated.  The faculty member responsible for the course is responsible for students on related field trips. The University provides liability coverage to faculty members and employees for these activities as described in FIN-006 Policy: Insurance Coverage sections 2.a. and 2.b. http://uvapolicy.virginia.edu/policy/FIN-006#Liability_Coverage. The University also covers employees involved in authorized international activities as described in the foreign liability section of this policy, and additional information is also provided at the following link: http://www.virginia.edu/riskmanagement/international.html

The University is not responsible for the personal property of students or employees, as the University’s property coverage extends only to University owned items or property that is documented to have been leased or loaned to the University.   Please ensure that students are aware that they are responsible for their own property.

Potential auto, liability, or property incidents or losses should be reported within 24 hours to the Office of Property & Liability Risk Management (OPLRM) by the department. Instructions and forms for this required reporting can be found at http://riskmanagement.virginia.edu/auto-incidentaccident-claim.  It is recommended that during your trip planning these instructions and forms be reviewed and be made a part of the information available to those managing the field trip. It is important to ensure that an incident or loss occurrence is reported to the OPLRM as soon as it is practical to do so.

If students are expected to provide their own transportation, the department should clearly communicate this to students and the department should avoid managing, assisting in, or endorsing carpooling arrangements that could be misconstrued as the University managing and taking responsibility for transportation.

If the department will be providing the ground transportation:

• Seek guidance from Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services regarding travel arrangements and reimbursement.
• Review and follow these policies and recommendations contained in the Vehicle Usage section of the OPLRM website: vehicle-usage-0. 

Passenger Transport
For drivers who transport passengers in owned or Rented/Leased vehicles on behalf of the University of Virginia.

• Drivers of large passenger vehicles or vehicles that hold more than 8 occupants, who will be transporting passengers should have a CDL* or meet the following requirements:

• • Drivers who have not had previous experience with a particular vehicle should spend an adequate amount of time driving that vehicle prior to transporting passengers, preferably in various types of traffic conditions, so that they become thoroughly familiar with the vehicle, and, when possible, accompanied by a driver with experience driving the same type of vehicle.
  • Students who are not also University employees should not transport passengers in these vehicles.
  • Minimum age of the driver should be 21 unless the driver has a CDL or EVOC Certification. Every driver should of course possess a valid United States driver's license.
  • Drivers should have a minimum of two years driving experience.
  • It is preferable that a driver's motor vehicle report not show two or more at fault accidents and/or serious moving violations in the past year, nor three or more at fault accidents and/or serious moving violations in the past three years. There should be no violations related to alcohol or drugs in the past five years. If the transcript reveals more than what is suggested above, it is up to the discretion of department heads whether to allow the driver to transport passengers on behalf of the University. Human Resources will perform a driver's transcript check by request on employees. If you have particular situations you would like to discuss, please feel free to contact Property & Liability Risk Management for further guidance.

• Drivers of smaller vehicles than those described in #1 above who will be transporting passengers should consider the guidelines in 1 above. However, in lieu of requesting a DMV report, you may ask the driver to show a valid United States driver's license and to tell you about his/her driving record. If a driver will be transporting students, it is recommended that a DMV report be requested as indicated in 1(e) above. Non-employees under 21 should not be transporting passengers on behalf of the University. Avoid the use of students as drivers who are not employees.

*CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) is required when driving a vehicle that can transport more than 15 passengers.

See Also:
Drivers Responsibilities: This link contains a list of responsibilities that drivers should print out, review, and have with them in the vehicle while driving.
PRM-14 Policy: Use and Management of University-Owned Vehicles was adopted on 4/15/2010 and has precedence over the recommendations contained in this memorandum. These recommendations supplement PRM-014 to provide additional guidelines for transportation of passengers in University-owned and non-University-owned vehicles.
 

If the field trip involves an agreement or contract with outside entities that involves procuring goods or services by the University  it must undergo review by Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services (PSDS) before being signed by the Director of PSDS who has signatory authority. If the agreement or contract does not involve a payment by the University, then it must undergo review by Bill Define in the office of the University Comptroller at (434) 243-5592 or email wgd4c@virginia.edu before being signed by the appropriate signatory authority.  

For additional information refer to http://www.virginia.edu/riskmanagement/contracts.html and adhere to FIN-036 Policy: Signatory Authority for Executing University Contracts: http://uvapolicy.virginia.edu/policy/FIN-036

The above advice is intended for short duration domestic academic field trips. The following are examples of other activities and programs falling outside of the scope of this advice:

• Internship, externships, clinical experiences, and other similar programs should be more formally managed within the academic department, including formal agreements with outside organizations and compliance with Policy: Academic Approval and Signatory Authority for Academic Program Agreements http://uvapolicy.virginia.edu/policy/FIN-035.
• Study abroad and other international travel with students requires more involved planning. All international activities should be coordinated through the International Studies Office (ISO) http://www.virginia.edu/iso/.

For situations involving student initiated or managed travel where there exists the possibility that the activity could be confused as being either an academic field trip or other University activity, there should be a disclaimer in place. This includes student group activities with faculty advisors that is not part of a course:  CIO activities, voluntary attendance at professional organization events and conferences, student initiated and/or organized activities including those supported by University collected fees, and activities students choose to engage in during semester breaks and between semesters.  Here is an example of a disclaimer for such an activity that should be modified to fit your particular situation:  "Social and recreational activities undertaken by students with support from the fees contributed for this purpose are not University activities. Rather the University collects and disburses these funds for social and recreational activities selected by the students. These activities are not sponsored by the University or part of any University program and students should bear this in mind when participating."

Disclose academic field trips to students, and include any requirements to transport themselves to an off grounds site, physical demands or risks above the normal course requirements, or other unusual aspects.  For required field trips, this disclosure should be made to students prior to students registering for the course by including it in the Course Description, or a credit alternative should be made available to any student expressing discomfort with taking part in the field trip.  For non-required field trips, this disclosure should occur prior to students signing up for the field trip when there are any requirements to transport themselves to an off grounds site, physical demands or risks above the normal course requirements, or other unusual aspects to the planned activities, and should be followed with a requirement that students sign an ASSUMPTION OF RISK FOR ELECTIVE SCHOOL TRIPS form prior to the field trip. For required and non-required field trips involving inherently risky activities, such as white water rafting, ropes courses, sports, etc.  Please contact the Office of Property & Liability Risk Management for advice. Retain these forms in the department in accordance with University policy.  Please seek advice from the Office of General Counsel regarding any desired changes to the language of this form, or the drafting of a new form.