|
Safety |
Broadening
Participation in Biological Monitoring: |
|
Safety plan—A safety plan is designed to prevent harm, injury, or death to individuals participating in the monitoring project. In almost all respects, such a plan for participants would differ little from a plan for employees. Safety cannot be over-emphasized. An equivalent commitment of resources, training, planning, and assumption of liability should be implicit if all participants are to be equally valued. Safety plans should include a job hazard analysis, including steps to mitigate risks. For field personnel, the job hazard analysis should include use of unfamiliar vehicles, driving on secondary roads, negotiating difficult terrain, dealing with extreme weather, avoiding harm from dangerous plants and wildlife, protecting care providers from blood borne diseases, and treating allergies. Safety plans should also cover needed safety equipment and use; appropriate clothing; personal medical conditions pertinent to safety or emergencies; appropriate safety procedures; First Aid /CPR training and certification; periodic scheduled sessions to acquaint participants with the safety and emergency plans; provisions for medical coverage; contact information for whom to notify in the case of an emergency or death, and appropriate or required liability forms. Acquiring project liability insurance is wise and insurance providers might have their own forms for participants to complete. Emergency plan—When safety plans fail to prevent an accident, emergency plans are designed to keep injuries to a minimum, facilitate the arrival of help, ensure important considerations are not overlooked during the crisis, and provide the means to learn from past mistakes. Elements of an emergency plan should include all field personnel carrying the emergency plan with them in the field, adequate proximity of team members trained in First Aid and CPR, availability of appropriate first aid equipment and supplies, knowledge of medical conditions that could complicate or worsen injuries, functional communications equipment, periodic check-in times, how to handle encounters with threatening individuals, contact information for emergency assistance, evacuation routes, maps and descriptions of rendezvous points for ambulances or helicopters, checklists and forms for documenting the incident, accident forms for vehicles, and evaluation procedures to learn from mistakes.
Checklist—
|
|