Student Excursions

UNIVERSITY WIDE PROCEDURE

Occupational Health and Safety
- Student Excursions -

1. Purpose

To assist University staff in the planning, information gathering and recording of the health and safety aspects of conducting student excursions.

Note 1: staff involved in planning or supervising excursions should also refer to the OHS Procedures - Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Control and First Aid Services.

2. Scope

The following procedure applies to staff of the University of Ballarat who plan, organise, conduct, supervise or manage student excursions. Several of the provisions apply to the students and other participants who take part in such excursions.

3. Definitions

"Student Excursion": a trip away from the campus of the University of Ballarat where a course/program is normally delivered, conducted for a group of students for purposes related to achieving the learning outcomes of the course/program. An "overnight excursion" is one that starts on a given day and finishes on the following day or later.

"Staff Member in Charge": the member of University Staff accompanying a student excursion who bears the primary responsibility for supervising the excursion and its participants. Usually, the Staff Member in Charge is the most senior teacher/lecturer taking part in the excursion.

4. Actions

4.1 Students Under 18

(a) Overnight excursion
The Staff Member in Charge requests students to submit a completed and signed Excursion Health Report and Consent Form for Students Under 18 Years for that specific excursion. Parents/guardians (see Note 2 below) must complete sections 2B, 2C, 3, 4 and 5 of the form.

(b) Other excursions
Schools request students to return a completed Excursion Health Report and Consent Form for Students Under 18 Years.

It is acceptable for a Staff Member in Charge to cover several excursions, or even all the excursions - excluding overnight ones - that they are planning for the forthcoming year, on a single form. However, they must list in section 6 of the form all relevant details of the planned excursions, insofar as these details can be specified at that stage. Where the details of an excursion that was listed need to be changed or where a new excursion is being conducted, the Staff Member in Charge must endeavour to inform the parents/guardians of students under 18 years of the change in advance, as far as practicable.

Parents/guardians (see Note 2 below) must complete sections 2A, 2C, 3, 4 and 5 of the form, and they must sign at the bottom of section 6.

Note 2: if students under 18 are living independently, they can indicate this on the form and sign for themselves.

4.2 Students Over 18

(a) Schools request students to complete an Excursion Health Report and Consent Form for Students Over 18 Years. This form can provide blanket cover for all student excursions conducted during the year.

4.3 Other Participants (Non-Student/Non-Staff)

There sometimes are legitimate reasons to allow a person, who is neither a student nor a staff member of the University, to participate in a student excursion. For instance, the participation of some students with disabilities in excursions may be dependent on the presence of their carer. In such circumstances, the Staff Member in Charge must submit to the relevant Head of School a completed Application for Non-Student/Non-Staff Member to Attend an Excursion form. The application must be approved in writing by the Head of School (part 3 of the form) and the applicant must complete an Excursion Health Report and Consent Form for Students Over 18 Years (see Note 3 below), on which the word "student" has been replaced with "applicant".

This section is not intended for volunteers, self-employed people or employees of other organisations who may coordinate activities during part of an excursion because of their skills, expertise, knowledge, etc. Examples of people who are not required to complete an application form include: a guide in an art gallery being visited as part of a student excursion, a park ranger accompanying students during field activities, a bus driver taking students and staff on an excursion, etc.

Note 3: applicants must be 18 years of age or older.

4.4 General

(a) Excursion Health Report and Consent Forms are to be filed within the School. Teaching/academic staff must be advised of their location. Schools must have mechanisms in place to ensure that relevant teaching/academic staff are aware of any existing medical condition and any special care required (see sub-section 4.5 below for privacy considerations).

(b) For any student excursion, the Staff Member in Charge must:

complete an Application to Conduct an Excursion form and obtain the relevant approval signatures;

ensure that a copy of the list of all people participating in the excursion is given to a nominated person within the School before the departure of the excursion group;
have with them appropriate notes regarding existing medical conditions and any special care or medication required; and
have ready access to the emergency contact numbers of participants.

Note 4: the last requirement may be achieved by appointing a 24-hour contact person for each excursion who holds such information, by having Staff Members in Charge take with them a copy of the List of Excursion Participants or copies of the completed Excursion Health Report and Consent Forms.

(c) A list of all people participating in a student excursion, irrespective of their age or status, is required as a record for insurance and emergency purposes. The Staff Member in Charge of any student excursion should record names on the form List of Excursion Participants, in an appropriate work diary or on a class attendance record (with appropriate notations).

(d) Staff Members in Charge must provide to their Head of Program and Head of Campus (if applicable) in the TAFE sector, or Head of Schools in the Higher Education sector, full details of any incident or injury occurring on excursions. They must comply with the provisions of the OHS Procedure - Incident Reporting.

4.5 Privacy

Heads of Schools must ensure that all aspects of the collection, use, disclosure, security, etc of personal or health information comply with the University of Ballarat Information Privacy Policy.

Staff Members in Charge of excursions also have a critical role in complying with the Policy. In particular, they must ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to maintain throughout the excursion the security of any personal or health information collected as part of this procedure. Particular care must be taken with health information. Such details must not be disclosed to any person for any reason other than the safe conduct of the excursion, except as specified in schedule 1 - principle 2 of the Victorian Health Records Act 2001. The information must be stored in a secure location, where access to it is monitored. For example, it may not be appropriate for health information to be stored on student files.

5. Responsibility

The Manager - Occupational Health and Safety is responsible for maintaining this procedure.

Other responsibilities are outlined in Section 4.

6. Policy Base

University of Ballarat Occupational Health and Safety Policy - Occupational Health and Safety Policy.

University of Ballarat Information Privacy Policy

7. Associated Documents

Occupational Health and Safety Procedure - Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Control

Occupational Health and Safety Procedure - First Aid Services

Forms as shown below.

8. Forms/Record Keeping

Title	Location	Responsible Officer	Minimum Retention Period
Application to Conduct an Excursion	School	Head of School	Destroy 7 years after excursion where no accident has occurred 20 years after excursion if accident has occurred
Excursion Health Report and Consent Form for Students Under 18 Years including any attached document (e.g. listing of excursions)	School	Head of School	Destroy 7 years after excursion where no accident has occurred 20 years after excursion if accident has occurred
Excursion Health Report and Consent Form for Students Over 18 Years	School	Head of School	Destroy 7 years after excursion where no accident has occurred 20 years after excursion if accident has occurred
List of Excursion Participants	School	Head of School	Destroy 7 years after excursion where no accident has occurred 20 years after excursion if accident has occurred
Application for Non-Student/Non-Staff Member to Attend an Excursion	School	Head of School	Destroy 7 years after excursion where no accident has occurred 20 years after excursion if accident has occurred
Request to Use Own Transport to Excursion	School	Head of School	Destroy 7 years after excursion where no accident has occurred 20 years after excursion if accident has occurred

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Warning - Uncontrolled when printed! The current version of this document is kept on the UB website.

Authorised by: University Health and Safety Policy Committee
Maintained by: Manager - Occcupational Health and Safety
Review Date: Dec-2011

Original Issue: 30/11/1999
Current Version: 18/12/2006

Occupational Health and Safety - Student Excursions -