safety and risk in residence abroad john canning and vicky wright subject centre for languages,...
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Safety and Risk in Residence Abroad
John Canning and Vicky Wright
Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
University of Southampton
Why is safety and risk an issue?• We recognise that students take risks and
gain from them.• Students may take risks to increase their
intercultural competence.• Recognition of hazards and calculation of
risk means risk can be decreased• Risk assessment may provide useful legal
evidence.
Duty of care• “The duty which rests upon an
individual or organisation to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to ensure the safety of any person involved in any activity for which that individual or organisation is responsible.” (British Canoe Association website).
Duty of Care (2)• “The legal obligation to take
reasonable care to avoid causing damage. Doctors have a duty of care, as do drivers to other road users, and solicitors to their clients. A breach of duty of care can give risk of a civil claim for negligence.” (Cutts 1992: 71-72).
Beyond a ‘duty of care’
• RA is a marketing tool.
• HEIs are service providers- students customers.
• Service providers have obligations- customers rights.
Understanding and assessing risk.
Risks and Hazards
• Hazard: anything that can cause harm.
• Risk: chance, high or low, that somebody will be harmed by the hazard.
Source: Health and Safety Executive.
5 steps to risk assessment.
1. Look for hazards.
2. Decide who might be harmed and how.
3. Evaluate the risks and decide whether existing precautions are adequate and whether more should be done.
5 steps to risk assessment (cont).
4. Record your findings.
5. Review your assessment and revise it if necessary.
Source: Health and Safety Executive.
Types of hazard.
• Social, Cultural, Political
• Environmental and Geological.
• Occupational
• Biological
Assessing risk.
• Risk assessment need not be quantitative.
• Use fuzzy logic (high, medium, low).
• What is– The risk of a hazard occurring?– What are the consequences if the risk
occurs?
Risk assessment Severity of consequence if event occurs
High
Medium
Low
Negligible
Likelihood of hazard occurring
Severe
High
High
Medium
Effectively zero
Medium
High
Medium
Medium/Low
Effectively zero
Low
Medium/Low
Low
Low
Effectively zero
Negligible
Effectively zero
Effectively zero
Effectively zero
Effectively zero
Severity of consequence if event occurs (Examples of kinds of risks).
Severe
Medium
Low
Negligible
Likelihood of risk occurring
High
Student work placement with military in Baghdad
Failure to follow local customs
Failure to follow local customs
Failure to follow local customs
Medium
Failure to follow local customs
Certain diseases
Failure to follow local customs
Effectively zero
Low
Medium/Low
Low
Low
Effectively zero
Negligible
Earthquake in California
Effectively zero
Effectively zero
Being hit on the head by an apple falling off a tree in Nantes.
Source: adapted from University of Oxford School of Environment
Factors affecting risk may include: • Gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality.
• Activities e.g. sports and leisure.
• Town, city, village of residence within a country.
• Language proficiency.
• Uncertainty.
Conclusions and recommendations.
• HEIs have a duty of care to their students.• Risk assessment is useful and not
complicated.• Clear any policy with your institution’s H&S
officer.• Involve students in the risk assessment.