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Academic field trips range from an afternoon outing to multi-day events including in or out of state travel. Risk and liability issues have recently emerged concerning academic field trips. At the present time, no institutional policy exists for local and domestic field trips. It is important that faculty, staff, and students follow adequate procedures to ensure the safety of field trip participants and reduce liability and risk to the College.

Guidelines

The following are suggested guidelines when planning an academic field trip:

·         Any external field trip agreements, applications, releases or similar documents, all of which are considered "contracts", must be reviewed by the Purchasing Department in advance of the field trip.

·         An LCSC employee is required to accompany a group if the field trip is sponsored by the College.

·         A contact person, who remains on campus, should retain a list of field trip participants and be identified as an emergency contact.

·         An itinerary should be provided to on campus personnel, especially if a field trip involves visiting multiple locations.

·         Emergency communications should be available at all times. A working cell phone would be sufficient for this purpose. If the field trip is in a remote location, emergency transportation should be available at all times during the field trip.

·         Employee travel expenses need to be kept separate from student expenses and submitted on the employee travel form.

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