Risk Management

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General Information

Liability issues are involved when students are asked to go on field trips as part of their course requirements. Listed below are guidelines for the instructor to consider.

The academic field trip is defined as an off campus group learning activity led by faculty, staff or a university designee who travels with the group. This definition does not include off campus learning activities such as internships, service learning or any activity where a student or group of students acts independently of a group assignment. Academic field trips do not include any voluntary student “field experience” not required or requested by the faculty as part of their course requirements.

CSU Executive Order No. 1051 [PDF] charges each campus with developing specific policies for controlling risk to ensure activities are conducted in a manner that does not impose unreasonable risk for loss or injury. The Executive Order guidelines include the following:

• Faculty should visit the field trip site prior to the trip or have sufficient knowledge of the site.
  
  
• Faculty should incorporate the field trip information within their course syllabus.
  
  
• Faculty should prepare an instructional agenda specifically for the field trip which describes the itinerary, alternate destinations if an emergency prevents entry to the original site, any health and safety information and emergency contact information.
  
  
• Faculty should plan for and accommodate students with special needs.
  
  
• Faculty should provide training for any equipment to be used on the trip.
  
  
• Review permissible conduct rules with field trip participants and include the CSU policy prohibiting the use of alcohol and chemical substances during any university sponsored activities. Specifically, no alcoholic beverages or chemical substances, except personal prescription medication shall be transported in any state/university vehicle or personal private vehicle used in support of a university-sponsored activity.
  
  
• Faculty should review emergency preparedness processes and the crisis response plan and provide field trip participants with the Department of Public Safety’s emergency phone numbers.
  
  
• Field trip participants may include university students (including undergraduate and graduate), employees (faculty, staff, students and teaching assistants) and identified university volunteers.
  
  
• Field trip participants may not include parents, spouses, partners, siblings and or children of students or faculty if they are not enrolled in the university. Additionally, pets may not participate.
  
  
• Whenever possible, field trip participants should provide their own transportation to the field trip site just as students provide their own transportation to the university for regular classes.
  
  
• Field trips should comply with the Field Trip Checklist included below.

Field Trip Checklist

Once the faculty has determined the field trip is the best alternative for students to meet the educational objective, the faculty member should complete the checklist below:

1. Determine if a site visit is appropriate to ensure the selected site is safe. If a site visit is unnecessary, documentation should exist in the field trip file to support this decision.
   
   
2. Prepare both a course syllabus and support plan agenda for the field trip. The course syllabus should include a brief statement of the purpose of the field trip. The support plan agenda should include the trip details and health and safety instructions for all participants. The health and safety instructions should include information regarding the accommodation of any student special needs, safety equipment requirements and steps to take to minimize any reasonably foreseeable hazards (for example crime, strenuous physical activity, dangerous animals, falling hazards, etc).
   
   
3. Faculty should provide students with the waiver of liability and obtain their signatures (see, Executive Order No. 1051 [PDF]).
   
   
4. Faculty should provide students with the Department of Safety’s emergency contact information.
   
   
5. Maintain an attendee roster.
   
   
6. Maintain all records from each field trip for three years beyond the year in which the field trip occurs.

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