Travel and Field Safety

The University of British Columbia is wholly supportive of academic pursuits that entail travel within and outside Canada’s borders. This website is designed to provide guidance to UBC faculty members and staff who are engaged in teaching and learning opportunities outside the UBC community. The information found on this website is for Canadian travel only. For international travel, please see the International SOS site.

It is essential to ensure that appropriate steps have been taken to minimize situational risks and the potential consequences of events that may negatively affect the outcomes of your studies locally. It is crucial that those documented processes are then fully engaged in the field. If you are a supervisor of staff or students who accompany you, there are associated legal and ethical responsibilities that must be managed and processes to be established and followed that ensure their safety and well being as well as your own. Whether you will be supervising others or will be pursuing your academic or research program individually, by fully engaging the processes described in this document your endeavors will have the greatest likelihood of success and should untoward events occur, you will be prepared to respond effectively.

This guidance website has been developed by Risk Management Services Okanagan Campus in collaboration with the Field Safety and International Travel Steering Committee, Risk Management Services Vancouver Campus, in conjunction with Human Resources, and Go Global resources from both campuses. Input from the University of Alberta and WorkSafeBC is gratefully acknowledged.