Alexandria, VA – The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) and American Geophysical Union (AGU) have released a recording of the latest AGU/AGI Heads and Chairs webinar. This month's session focuses on legal issues related to field trips and field courses. The webinar, led by panelists David Mogk from Montana State University and Steven Whitmeyer from James Madison University, serves as a guide for reducing risk and liability for geoscience departments, and reviews tips for properly planning a safe and enjoyable field trip.
Although field work is acknowledged as an integral part in geoscience education and research, it exposes geoscience departments to legal and safety liabilities. The video provides preemptive tips to conduct a safe field trip or course. It stresses minimizing risk and liability through careful planning, and offers a number of field trip tips for dealing with safety, participant behavior, and dealing with the appropriate legal counsel for your institution. Tips include: drafting and disseminating explicit field trip and medical emergency policy forms; drafting and disseminating detailed itineraries to both the students and the department; utilizing industry best practices where appropriate; obtaining the proper permits and permissions to conduct field work; and assessing your coverage for personal liability prior to the trip.
For more information and to view the webinar recording online please visit the AGI YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_fu0ZHtMtg&feature=youtu.be.
To see the list of upcoming AGU/AGI Heads and Chairs webinars, please visit http://www.agiweb.org/workforce/headsandchairs.
The American Geophysical Union is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization with more than 62,000 members representing over 148 countries. AGU advances the Earth and space sciences through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs. www.agu.org.
The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society's use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.