Fieldwork is defined as any off-campus practical work carried out by research staff and students as part of their work (teaching, research, or other activities), or as part of their course of study. This could be in the UK or overseas and includes activities such as:

• work in a natural environment
• practical data gathering in a community
• interviewing participants for research purposes
• visits to research camps, museums, galleries, observatories or similar
• visits to industrial or commercial sites
• domiciliary visits.

It is important that fieldwork activities are planned carefully in order to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all staff and students involved.

A Fieldwork Risk Assessment should be completed, or, if the activity has been assessed before, the risk assessment should be revisited and updated to reflect any changes. The final risk assessment document should identify and record foreseeable hazards and significant risks associated with the planned activity.

It is the responsibility of the Fieldwork Leader (the person with operational responsibility for all aspects of the fieldwork e.g., Principal Investigator, Line Manager/Supervisor) to ensure that risks and controls are detailed in the Fieldwork Risk Assessment, are monitored, and managed throughout the whole of the activity.