Incident Reporting: a key strategy for managing educational travel programs
Incident reporting is an important part of an educational travel or experiential program’s risk management plan that is often overlooked. This documentation of any adverse events or unexpected occurrences benefits students in many ways. It fosters accountability and transparency and provides evidence in the event of legal action or an insurance claim. Collecting data for analysis of the effectiveness of risk mitigation protocols contributes to improving future off-campus programs. Many schools develop a method of incident reporting that is comprehensive, consistent, and sustainable.
Having a clear record of incidents ensures that all parties are aware of the history of risks encountered in similar programs and the measures taken to resolve those issues. This supports institutional learning and continuous improvement, especially in times of leadership or faculty transition. This kind of documentation can help bring a sense of peace of mind to stakeholders, reducing stress and anxiety. It can also highlight the use of (or the need for) resources such as emergency response services.
From a legal and insurance perspective, incident reporting including briefly documenting a rationale for any decisions made is helpful in any legal proceedings or insurance claims that might occur, especially if they take place well after the program. Such reports can serve the school in liability suits and insurance companies often require an incident report to process a claim.
The analysis of incident data with the program director is a productive review for the school’s risk management committee. The contributing factors to an incident can be identified, and changes in protocols can be made to prevent future occurrences. The allocation of resources can also be better evaluated with this data as an input. For example, this data can help schools annually review if there are enough staff involved in supporting student programs off campus or whether faculty in the field have access to the emergency support they need to respond to incidents quickly. When collected over time, historical trends can be observed and addressed.
INCIDENT REPORTING MODELS
(I am indebted to the Association for Experiential Education for some of the following.)
What data might be part of an incident report?
Data collected across programs and time should be consistent. It might include:
>> Age, Gender
>> Activity
>> Date
>> Early Departure Date (Did not finish the trip)
>> Evacuation (yes, no)
>> Incident Date
>> Type of Incident
>> Incident Narrative
>> Response and Rationale
>> Supervision / Staff (present or involved)
What type of incidents might be reported?
>> Illness: physical illness; does not include mental health issues (noted under the category Psychosocial)
>> Injury: physical harm or bodily injury
>> Psychosocial: Emotional, Motivational, or Mental Health Incident
>> Behavior incident: significant student violation of rules or behavior expectations
>> Inclusion Incident: An incident of any type in which the student, staff or program supervisor believes that the incident was made more likely or more severe because of attitudes or behaviors that are not inclusive.
>> Security Incident: loss or theft of important documents or resources, criminal activity involving students or faculty
>> Reported or Suspected Harassment, Assault, or Abuse
>> Missing Student or Faculty Member
>> Natural disaster or weather related incident
>> Near Miss/Close Call: Events in which significant consequences (such as serious or critical injury or fatality) were narrowly avoided. Includes those in which luck or timely staff action intervened just in time. Does not include incidents that were prevented through routine implementation of mitigations and safety practices (in which the system provides the capacity it was designed to provide.
>> Reportable Incident: A reportable incident might meet one or more of the following criteria that interrupt the participation of a student, or qualifies as a near miss: a) it requires more than simple first aid and/or it needs follow-up care; b) the use of medications listed in the med protocols (except over the counter medications); or c) it interferes with active participation in the course for at least 12 hours; d) anything that is legally required such as an allegation of misconduct or workers compensation.
How might this data be reported?
Each school develops its own form or process. It is good practice to complete a form for incidents as soon as feasible after the event, ideally by the staff member present at the time. The form could be either hard copy or digital. Normally, these forms are submitted to the program director or other administrator at the end of the program. The data from these forms is generally aggregated, analyzed, and presented to the group responsible for overseeing the program’s risk management.
Closing the feedback loop.
In review of the incident data, a risk management committee might make recommendations for changing practices or policies. A program director or administrator can then enact these changes which might include informing staff, editing any relevant published materials, and appropriately training participants. The implementation steps can then be reported back to the risk management and demonstrate the value of incident response for continuous improvement of program management.