- Describe what matters most when transporting children and youth while they are on field trips.
- Identify management practices that ensure staff keep children and youth safe when being transported and while they are on field trips.
- Apply the content of this lesson to ensure children and youth are transported safely.
Learn
Know
Transporting Children and Youth
Safety risk is elevated when children and youth are being transported. According to the Center for Injury Research and Prevention, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among children. You can mitigate the risk by ensuring that vehicles are safe, drivers meet all requirements, and safety procedures are followed.
As the Program Manager, it is your responsibility to ensure that vehicles used to transport children comply with your program’s Service's vehicle requirements. It is also imperative that vehicle drivers are properly licensed and meet all requirements of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. If necessary, two staff members may transport one child in a government vehicle.
When it comes to transportation, you are accountable for ensuring that children and youth are never transported in an unsafe vehicle, by unsafe individuals, or in staff vehicles. Systems for tracking vehicles and drivers must be followed at all times and concerns addressed immediately. In addition, you need to have staff and children routinely practice safe transportation drills.
Field Trips
Field trips provide extended learning experiences for children and youth and can be excellent for enriching the curriculum. Careful planning and preparation are important to keeping everyone safe while they have a good time.
If the field trip involves swimming, extra caution should be taken. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning remains the second-leading unintentional injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14 years.
Supervise & Support
Management Practices That Support Transportation and Field Trips
The chart below summarizes your key responsibilities when it comes to ensuring children and youth are safe while being transported and on field trips.
Train for Transportation
I Should Always...
Make certain that staff are trained on transporting children and youth according to our program’s Service's requirements.
...to ensure staff never...
- Allow children and youth to enter and exit the vehicle from anywhere but the curb
- Transport children and youth without being belted or in a car seat based on the age and weight of the child
- Allow children and youth to be out of their seats while the vehicle is moving
- Board or exit the vehicle without taking name-to-face head counts
- Exit a vehicle unless every seat from back to front has been checked to ensure all children and youth are off the vehicle
- Fail to follow program policies and procedures when transporting children and youth because they didn't receive training
Train for Field Trips
I Should Always...
Make certain that staff are trained on the program’s Service's field trip requirements.
...to ensure staff never...
- Take children and youth on field trips without reviewing safety rules with them multiple times prior to the trip
- Take children and youth on field trips without reviewing safety rules with them multiple times prior to the trip
- Take children and youth on field trips without having a safety plan in case an emergency arises
- Take children and youth on field trips before assigning them a buddy
- Leave for the field trip without taking permission forms, medical release forms, and emergency contact information forms
- Leave for the field trip without taking a complete first-aid kit, emergency medications, and hand sanitizer in case there is limited access to water for washing
- Leave for the field trip without taking a cell phone and cash for emergency incidentals or phone calls
- Take children and youth on field trips without conducting name-to-face counts frequently; staff need to count children when they leave the program, board the vehicle, exit the vehicle, during the field trip, prior to reboarding the vehicle, after boarding the vehicle, when exiting the vehicle, and once they are back inside the program
- Position themselves where they can't always maintain visual contact with children and youth
Review Requests
I Should Always...
Review field trip requests and meet with staff prior to children and youth taking field trips.
...to ensure staff never...
- Take children and youth to an unsafe location
- Go on a field trip without adequate staffing to maintain ratios; additional staff should be taken
- Go on a field trip without understanding the communication plan in case an emergency arises
Utilize Electronic Calendars and Reminders
I Should Always...
Use an electronic calendar for notifications about upcoming critical expiration dates (vehicle inspections, drivers' licenses, driver training, etc.). Set the system to send a notification two months prior to the expiration date to allow sufficient time to meet deadlines.
...to ensure staff never...
Transport children and youth in unsafe vehicles or with unsafe individuals
Develop a Field Trip Guide for Policies and Procedures
I Should Always...
Develop a field-trip guide to accompany all field trips that details all field-trip policies and procedures.
...to ensure staff never...
Fail to follow field trip guidelines because they were relying on memory instead of written procedures for field trips
Review Emergency Situations
I Should Always...
Utilize staff meetings to role play emergency situations that could occur while on field trips.
...to ensure staff never...
Feel unprepared when an emergency arises
The Importance of Sound Judgment
Sound judgment is a blend of common sense, business intelligence, and an understanding of people. As a Program Manager, you are expected to exercise good judgment in every decision you make.
To make good decisions based on sound judgment you must know your program’s Service's protocols and policies inside and out, use data gathered from checklists and assessments to immediately address safety concerns, and take the perspective of your staff members into account. Sound judgment is absolutely critical to keeping everyone in your program safe from harm.
Watch this video as a reminder why transportation procedures matter so much.
Safe Transportation Procedures Matter
Explore
Take time during a staff meeting or work with the Training & Curriculum Specialist to ask staff members to identify possible emergency situations that could occur on field trips. Assign groups of staff members to research and write up solutions for each situation identified. Once you have reviewed their responses, use the Field Trip Emergency Responses activity below to create a document to be included in a field-trip binder that would accompany staff on every field trip. Be sure each answer is aligned to your PUBLICprogram's policies and procedures.
Apply
Teaching children bus safety is a necessary step in preparing them to attend field trips. Work with staff members and use the Safe Behavior on Buses resource below to talk with the children and youth in your program about field trip and bus safety. Some topics to address include:
- Safe behavior while riding the bus
- Seatbelt safety
- Safe boarding/exiting practices
- Vehicle evacuation procedures
Share the Headcount Checklist with staff as one tool that can be used to ensure that they are completing name to face checks and are accountable for all children during field trips.
Demonstrate
Head Start. (n.d.). Encouraging Safe Behavior on Buses. https://headstart.gov/transportation/article/encouraging-safe-behavior-buses
Head Start. (n.d.). Vehicle Evacuation Drills. https://headstart.gov/transportation/article/vehicle-evacuation-drills
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (n.d.). Parents Central, From Car Seats for Car Keys: Keeping Kids Safe homepage. http://www.safercar.gov/parents/index.htm
U.S Department of Transportation: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (n.d.). Child Pedestrian Safety Curriculum Teachers Guide. Washington D.C. https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/school-bus-safety#resources