Those researchers who are in the field in the fall months should have the hazard of hunters/gunfire/bow and arrow in their hazard assessment. 

PRE-PLANNING CONTROLS:  

Awareness of the hunting season for the area you are working in. Knowing the season's dates will keep you informed on the type of hunting activities and associated hazards you may encounter. Generally hunting season in Alberta runs from the end of August to December, however, some hunting is permitted at other times of the year. Please see the Alberta Wildlife Management Unit Map and then click on the areas to the left side of the screen to access more details of the dates and hunting activities for that area of the province (example: Foothills area). Determine if the areas you are assigned to use, work or conduct field research is an active hunting area during the season or not, and plan your work accordingly. 

Avoid High Use times - Opening days of hunting season, weekends, early morning and evening hours are typically high-use times that should be avoided. Supervisors should plan fieldwork activities during mid-week, preferably middle hours of the day to minimize employee risk, and the hazard of exposure to the largest number of hunters. Also, check if the region has no hunting on Sundays as this is quite common around Edmonton areas and could help with scheduling of work.

Permission to Access Land -  researchers should have permission to access the land to collect data. If accessing private land, this must include written permission from the landowner and you need to fill in Section 6 of your FAP.

On-Site Safety Precautions Check-In and Check-Out.  Use pre-identified procedures in your FAP to let others know where you are going and when you plan to return (Section 5).  This is always a good protocol, but even more important during hunting season.

Emergency Response Preparations:
Complete sections 4 and 5 of the Field Activities Plan.
Have a Type 3 First Aid Kit available.
Have the ability to call for emergency response (via cell phone or satellite phone if no cell phone coverage)
Work in groups of two or more to provide emergency first aid care if necessary. Workers should be trained in Intermediate First Aid at minimum, Wilderness First Aid is recommended when working remotely (further than 20 minutes from EMS).

ON-SITE CONTROLS: 

PPE - Make yourself more visible. Wear a high-visibility vest or choose blazing colors that stand out, like red or orange, and avoid whites, blacks, browns, or earth-toned greens and animal-colored clothing.   

Make Noise - Whistle, sing or carry on a conversation as you walk to alert hunters to your presence. Hunters are usually listening for sounds of animal movements. 

Make Yourself Known - If you hear shooting close by, raise your voice and let the hunters know that you are in the vicinity.   

See the Field Research Control Library for the above information. 

If you haven't taken the mandatory Field Research Safety Training yet, please visit this page for more details.

If you have activities that are assessed at a risk level 2 (medium) to level 5 (Extreme), you are required to take both parts of the training, the eLearning and the in-Person training sessions.

As of September 5, 2024, almost 1200 researchers have completed both the E-Learning and In-Person Training.

We have scheduled one session per month as below:

November 12, 2024    1 pm - 4 pm    (virtual)
January 14, 2025 1 pm - 4 pm (virtual)

We would remind everyone must register using the online form.  If someone shares the link with another or joins another during the session, we will not have a record of attendance and certificates cannot be issued. Also, cameras are required to be on during the whole session. 

Although most field projects have wrapped up for the winter months, many labs will continue to collect data through the winter.

Remember in preparing for winter fieldwork, do the following:

● Review your hazard assessments and make sure to identify and control all hazards arising from the change in weather, temperatures, etc.
● Check out the HSE Cold Stress Program to help with hazard management
● Have the Alberta Emergency Alerts app on your phone
● Check out Environment Canada's Public Weather Alerts before you go
● Monitor the 511 Road Reports for the duration of your winter field project
● Make sure your U of A-owned vehicle is winterized and has undergone a thorough maintenance check and needed repairs, if any.  See our previous newsletter for tips on winterizing your vehicle. 
● Prepare a Vehicle Winter Survival Kit as suggested below. 

As part of the investigation of the fatality, one corrective action recommended that HSE conduct an audit of field research activities going forward. The Audit has gotten underway. The objectives of the Field Research Safety Audit are:

● Confirm compliance with field safety documents and processes 
● Assess field workers' awareness and understanding of field safety documents and processes
● Assess field workers’ attitudes and behaviors toward the application of field safety tools 
●Assess the willingness/ability of field workers to raise field safety concerns.

If selected to be audited, you would have received a message from HSE Director, Michelle Rooker.  You will soon be contacted by the HSE Auditor responsible for your audit requesting your Daily Field Safety Log Books to review as well as other documents such as training records, if not linked to in the FAP. After a review of the responses provided in the Audit questionnaire, the auditor may reach out to schedule interviews with some members of the research group.  All the interviews must be finished by December 20th.

The final phase will be the compilation of the Audit Report by January 31, 2025.

A report is to be compiled and finalized by January 31, 2025.  The report will not include specifics of individual research groups or interviews, those will remain confidential and the report will focus on: 

● Institutional findings
● Highlight areas of best practice
● Identification of gaps
● General Areas of non-compliance
● Recommendations for improvements

The Audit Plan will be presented to the HSE Director, Manager Environment and Support Services, Field Research Office Director, HSE Field Safety Advisor, Faculty Health and Safety Advisors, the Review Group, Working Group Chairs, AVP (HRHSE), President's Executive Committee (Strategic), Field Research Activities Committee (FRAC), Joint Health and Safety Committee, College Deans and Deans, the HSE Senior Administrators Committee and the Board Audit and Risk Committee.

If you have any questions about the audit, please contact HSE Director, Michelle Rooker.

Planning is ongoing for a move of the South Campus Storage Lot (where field equipment is stored in Sea Cans and trailers are parked, directly south of the Saville Centre as shown in photo above).

Both Space Planning and the Project Manager (Peter Gegolick) have been in touch with the Field Research Office and recently advised that they are hoping for the move to take place in the late Fall (exact date yet to be confirmed). 

Although the exact location of the new lot has not yet been confirmed, it will remain on South Campus. In preparation for the move, the project manager is planning to have a bin for disposal of all non-hazardous materials from the sea cans and storage spaces that are located on the Lot. The date has not been confirmed yet but they require researchers to fill out this Google Form. Please make use of this bin provided at no cost to the researcher or department. If you have hazardous waste you wish to dispose of, you will need to follow the procedures here for chemical waste pick-up. 

Update:  The plans for the Sea Can storage lot move continue to be developed, but an exact move date has not been set.  Now, the move dates are scheduled for late November or early December, but things may shift. The Project Manager will still provide several weeks of notice when this will happen and will work with the impacted researchers in the process.

We will keep you informed as we receive updates.

A Wilderness First Aid course has been scheduled for November 13-15 (W, Th, F) 

Prerequisite:  Current Intermediate First Aid 

Cost: $325.00

Location:  Emily Murphy Park 

We presently have three signed up but we need eight participants to have the course proceed. Please spread the message to your colleagues who may be interested. 

Jeff Brady joined the U of A  HRHSE team in September 2024 after taking over for long-time Fleet Safety Advisor Kenji Kinoshita, who has retired.

Jeff has spent the last 18 years with the City of Edmonton, starting with Edmonton Transit where he started in operations in 2006 before moving to Safety in 2011. He subsequently joined the City of Edmonton Fleet Safety Department in 2014 as a Fleet Safety Advisor/Officer. As part of that role, he specialized in collision investigation, including as lead investigator on three fatality incidents. He also conducted road testing in large commercial vehicles and became a National Safety Code subject expert.

Contact Jeff Brady for anything related to driver training/evaluation, trailer training, and ATV training.  Jeff's phone number is (825) 963-0613.

The Firearms Policy is being revised by UAPS under Facilities and Operations. 

Mandatory annual firearms training (hands-on training from a third party) is being organized for early March and early May. This will be required before any firearms are brought to the field. Please contact Robert Mills ( with UAPS) for more information.