Field Trip Insurance and Safety David M. Abbott, Jr., CPG-4570 Field Trip Liability Insurance
Field trips are a fundamental part of geoscience educa- tion and of continuing professional development during one’s career. Field trips are sponsored by both geoscience depart- ments and professional organizations. They are an integral part of professional organizations’ annual meetings. Field trips also were part of AIPG’s 2016 Annual Meeting in Santa Fe. I would estimate that hundreds of field trips are held each year by geoscience departments and professional organizations. The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) is the largest regional geoscience organization in Colorado and has been sponsoring field trips for many years. In recent years, those signing up for a RMAG field trip have had to submit a signed liability release form as part of registering for a field trip. In addition, RMAG developed a 2-page check list “Accident and Emergency Plan” for field trips. I was therefore quite concerned when I read 2016 RMAG President John Outcrop, RMAG’s newsletter.
Ladd reported that issues concerning insurance coverage for field trips were initially responsible for a decision to cease RMAG sponsorship of field trips after 2015. Ladd noted that a few years ago, RMAG’s auditors “noted that our liability insurance did not cover such events and if someone got hurt on one of our trips, RMAG could be sued for every cent we had, no matter what kind of liability waiver we made par- ticipants sign.” Initially RMAG was able to obtain separate liability coverage for field trips, but then the insurance com- pany stopped issuing this policy. So RMAG was able to get AAPG to sponsor the RMAG field trips under AAPG’s field trip policy. However, AAPG’s “insurance company started getting nervous, and beginning this year they were requiring that each trip would have to have a trip leader who not only was an AAPG member but also had so many health and safety certifications that they might as well be an EMT. They even required certification in small marine craft safety!” Colorado is a long way from a Quaternary marine body. White water raft- ing is an entirely different topic—I went on a RMAG-sponsored 10-day trip down the Grand Canyon in 1993. Susan Wager, CPG (2016 Colorado Section President and 2015 RMAG field trip chairperson) noted that AAPG field trip leaders would be required to obtain all these health and safety certifications at the leaders’ individual expense.
Ladd noted that the problem for insurance companies results from the fact they have no experience with such policies and therefore have no idea of what’s involved or the likelihood of claims being made. Unfortunately, the probability of claims being made will increase if liability insurance exists providing a known pot of money that can be pursued in a liability suit. AIPG members whose practice involves estimating mineral resources and mineral reserves have faced similar issues when trying to obtain professional liability insurance for their work. If such policies can be obtained, they are prohibitively
expensive. RMAG has been able to find more reasonably priced coverage that allows RMAG-sponsored field trips to continue this year.
RMAG’s experience prompts the question, what should AIPG do about field trips lead by Sections—the Colorado Section has one or two per year—and during annual meetings? AAPG is a very large organization with significant assets and one can understand AAPG’s desire to have adequate insurance coverage. But if the health and safety certification require- ments for leaders of AAPG field trips remain as reported by Ladd and Wager, I doubt whether RMAG will be sponsoring many future field trips. RMAG is much smaller than AAPG but still has more assets than AIPG. One approach for AIPG would be to continue our current practice of not having field trip insurance and hope that no one is seriously hurt on an AIPG-sponsored trip and that no liability suits are brought. Past experience indicates that injuries occurring on field trips are rare and that suits have not been brought. But is this approach still viable and prudent? I don’t know. I have raised the question.
Field Trip Safety Issues
Aside from the liability insurance questions, should more attention be paid to the potential health and safety issues that may occur during field trips? I’ve noticed increasing requirements that field trip participants have personal safety equipment including hard-toe boots, high-visibility vests, hard hats, safety glasses, and hearing protection. The need for this equipment is more obvious for some trips than others. I go on field trips at operating mines and quarries and having the foregoing personal safety equipment is standard operating procedure. With the exception of the hard-toe boots, the fore- going equipment is generally pretty cheap. Having your own high-visibility vest ensures that you have one that fits well over whatever you may be wearing and may have convenient pockets for various field related items. But I also think that the requirements to have such equipment be intelligently applied. I’ve always wondered why flaggers on highway projects need hard hats. They usually are located some distance away from work areas and hail is the only thing likely to fall on their heads—a hard hat is nice in a hail storm.
Injuries have happened on field trips. David Glater, CPG, reported a case in which a student was severely injured on a university-sponsored field trip in western Kansas dur- ing which students were digging fossils from the Ogallala Formation. They were recklessly undercutting a cliff, with predictable results. The seriously, permanently injured stu- dent sued for a large settlement and won. Rocks can fall off cliffs and steep hills. Roads through the Colorado mountains frequently traverse rock fall areas and the incidence of falling rocks is particularly acute in the spring as snow melts and temperatures vary from warm days to freezing nights with the resultant ice-wedging in cracks in the rocks. Being hit by fall-
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
