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Case Scenarios of Health and Safety Incidents on Study Abroad Programs: For Faculty and Staff Training.
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Case Scenarios of Health and Safety Incidents on Study Abroad Programs: For Faculty and Staff Training These are all incidents that have happened on previous programs, along with the actual response. (Of course, the actual response is not the only manner in which the incident could have been handled.) For all of these incidents, an incident response form was completed and (at the next appropriate time) sent to the institution and to the service provider.
Student No-show It is 8am and your group is preparing to leave the accommodations for a 9-hour coach drive to the next field location in the Outback where everyone will be staying for 3 nights. At 8:15am two female students have not shown and, upon questioning the group, it appears that they did not return to the hotel last night. You learn that they were last seen in a bar talking to two local men of their age, and the other students think that they left the bar with them.
Student No-show (Response) • Check the accommodations fully (including all floors) and call the bar where the students were last seen (to inquire of their possible whereabouts). Alert the service provider, the university (who will likely contact their parents), and initiate a missing person’s report with the local police. In this case, the group departed, but the faculty’s back-up person stayed behind at the hotel prepared to report back regularly to the group (on either the group’s cell phone or on the coach’s satellite phone). The two missing students showed up at the hotel at approx 10:00am. They: • Had to fund their own transport to the Outback (first by coach and then by taxi) at a cost of $500 each, arriving the following day to meet the group • Had to call their parents, the university, and the police to explain the situation • Each received a 10% reduction in their final grade (of the entire course) for missing class. • The institution had the option of withholding their grades until payment for the faculty back-up person’s transportation had been covered by the girls.
Facebook You happen to be looking at Facebook photos shortly after the conclusion of the program of your students. You notice that one of the photographs shows three students drinking alcohol inside the accommodations – a violation of program policies.
Facebook (Response) Situation was discussed with the three students and grades withheld/flagged until the situation was resolved. An appropriate university sanction was applied (e.g., alcohol awareness course, loss of grade, and/or university probation).
Wine for the Parents A student approaches you about storing a bottle of wine (an expensive Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir red, purchased as a gift for their parents) on the coach. You agree under the condition that the student does not open the wine. Two days later, it appears the wine bottle broke while being transported and soiled another student’s new $300 Gortex rain jacket.
Wine for the Parents (Response) Allowing students to have alcohol on a common transportation carrier and/or in the accommodations during a program is strictly prohibited. The faculty needs to make this policy very clear to students immediately and accept that a mistake was made. In future, the student (if of legal age) can arrange to have the wine shipped back to the United States from the place of purchase. Arranging to have the jacket dry cleaned and requiring the student responsible for storing/damaging the wine to pay for the cleaning is not unreasonable in this situation. One reason for this policy is that a 19 year-old student may be of legal age to purchase alcohol in the host country but not of legal age if they elect to have a stopover in the States on their return home.
Family Emergency On waking, you receive a call from your university to report that the brother of one of the students has been killed in a car accident. Your student does not know yet.
Family Emergency (Response) Call the university counselling center and ask for guidance (and inform the service provider). Contact one of the parents and speak with them to verify the incident and to ask if they have a preference for how they would like for you to break the news to the student. Find out if the student has a close friend in the group with whom they can find some comfort - or identify who the student has developed a close relationship with in the group. Meet with the close friend in private, explain the situation and ask for their assistance. Arrange to meet with the student, on her own, in a private location as soon as possible and provide her with a cell phone (and telephone number) to call her parents. You provide her with privacy to make the call. After the call, you and the close friend meet with her and provide comfort. You make arrangements for her return on the next available flight to the States (if she wishes to return) and to the nearest airport. Always ensure that she has at least one person with her until she boards the return flight. Remain in touch with your university, informing them of progress.
Homestay Village Sexual Harassment Your group is staying with homestay families in a rural Fijian village on an off-shore island. A female student comes to you to report the following situation: At about 9:30pm, as the students were returning to their host family’s homes after a meke (dinner/dance), a young man whom the student had spoken to several times during the day asked her to walk down to the beach. She agreed, and was only on the beach for a few minutes, then said she had to go. The man grabbed her arm and tried to force her down to the ground. They struggled for several minutes before she finally managed to break away and return to tell you of the incident.
Homestay Village Sexual Harassment (Response) The faculty telephoned the community leaders, service provider, and university. Both students staying in that household were removed and brought to the faculty’s homestay. Before leaving the village, the leaders performed a ritual of reconciliation, which included an apology from the leaders and village members to the affected students. The faculty member filed a police report on returning to Nadi. As follow up, a more formal auditing process of village homestays was instituted to ensure such an incident does not happen again. Possible removal of the village as a homestay site was considered.
Lost Passport It is the final morning of the program, and students are due to leave Christchurch today. A student knocks on your door at 8:00am to report that he cannot find his passport. His flight back to the US leaves in 5 hours. There is no US embassy or consulate in Christchurch.
Lost Passport (Response) The faculty rang the US embassy in Auckland and made an appointment for the student the following day. The faculty also helped the student to rearrange his flights and make a hotel booking for that evening in Auckland.
Robbery On the final morning of the program in Christchurch, three students report that their room was robbed last night. Items missing include credit cards, a cell phone, a camera, and clothing. On further questioning, you learn that the students had invited two strangers into the room early in the evening (a violation of program policies), and when returning later, they had propped the door open with a shoe. The students are due to leave New Zealand today.
Robbery (Response) Students taken to file a police report, and incident was reported to the hotel. An appropriate program sanction was applied for violating an accommodation policy) (e.g., 500-word essay on security in study abroad programs). Grades were withheld until the issue was resolved. A difficult lesson was learnt by the students!
Hiking Accident While hiking in the Outback, a student is running on the rocky trail and slips, leaving a deep gash in their foot that clearly requires stitches. You are about 3 hours from the nearest medical clinic and 6 hours from a major hospital.
Hiking Accident (Response) The faculty member stabilised the wound, and then had the coach driver take the student to the nearest medical centre. (The service provider was telephoned in order to find out the location of the nearest medical center.) The faculty (or back-up person) accompanied her. The medical center makes a decision as to whether the student can return to the group or should be transported to the hospital. If hospital treatment is required, the faculty/back-up person arranges taxi transport (at the student’s expense – though this should be covered by insurance) and remains with the student until they return back with the group.
Stranded Your group is at a remote location in the Outback, and you’ve just learned that the weather forecast is for severe flooding. Your coach driver warns that if there is flooding, you may not be able to get out of the area for several days. It is 9:00pm, and your group is due to leave the area tomorrow at 8:00am.
Stranded (Response) The driver, service provider, and faculty (and institution, when feasible) together decided that the group should leave that evening. All students were informed and asked to prepare for departure immediately. The group drove through the night and students were given free time the following day to catch up on sleep.
Sexual Harassment II A student confides in you after the end of a program that one of the field guides made sexual advances during a night out in Cairns with the group. The student asks you not to tell the guide, and says that she may have misinterpreted the Australian humour. She says the guide did not physically harass her.
Sexual Harassment II (Response) The faculty contacted the service provider who queried the field guide about the incident without revealing the student’s identity. The guide will no longer be used for overnight excursions and field activities, only for class lectures.
Pool Mishap Some of the students are playing pool in the accommodations and they accidentally hit a cue ball through a large window, causing it to crack. There was no malicious intent or horseplay involved, just an honest accident. The hotel owners don’t know about it yet, and you are due to check out tomorrow morning.
Pool Mishap (Response) The faculty member didn’t tell the hostel, and the service provider learned of the incident from the supplier. The supplier tried to recover the costs of replacing the window from the students. (Correct response should have been to talk with the hostel staff immediately and inform the service provider!)
Uncomfortable Homestay Your students are in homestays, and at 8:00pm, two of your female students phone to say that they are very uncomfortable. They report that their host brother has been smoking marijuana and is making inappropriate comments to them. The hotel where you are staying is completely full for the night.
Uncomfortable Homestay (Response) Call the service provider and ask for guidance. The students were removed immediately from the homestays and taken to the hotel where the faculty was staying. The situation was explained to the hotel and they managed to accommodate the students by rearranging rooms. A replacement family was found by the service provider for the two girls the following day, and the incident reported to the homestay organisation. The family can no longer be used for homestays.
Sick Student A student complains of a sore throat while staying at a lodge resort in the rainforest (20 miles from the closest medical center). She is too unwell to participate in the group day-long hike but insists she just needs some antibiotics and is fine to take a taxi (or the lodge transportation) to the medical centeron her own. She appears well enough to go on her own and the lodge can provide a staff member to take her down.
Sick Student (Response) Your back-up person stays behind and accompanies the student to the medical center (at their expense). You can use the lodge transport but you must remain with the student.
Conclusion In most cases, call the service provider and your institution for guidance and assistance. Complete the incident report form (even for non-emergencies) if a program event/incident threatens the safety, well-being, and/or health of the group or its members. Ensure that you have someone in your group who can act as a back-up representative for your institution (this can be another faculty member, staff person, teaching assistant, or mature student).
