Seeking to make travel safer for student and faculty researchers - and less risky for the university, UC Davis has unveiled a set of specialized protocol for off-campus travel and plans to follow in case of a catastrophic event.

The procedures, the first in the UC system, include:

• Online, centralized guidelines for trip planning and safety and links to web-based resources;
• A short-term travel insurance policy;
• Boating safety policies and training programs to be developed by the Bodega Marine Laboratory and Environmental Health and Safety;
• Risk Management Services presentations on travel to departments and student groups; and
• The development of a Staff Development and Professional Services class on travel safety.

"The benefit of the policy is protection for everyone involved, protection through education," said Dennis Dutschke, associate vice provost for international programs and one of the consultants to the policy. "The more everyone knows about the challenges and risks, the better prepared they are to cope with them."

The procedures have their genesis in two tragedies that occurred during research trips involving UC Davis faculty members and students. On March 27, 2000, Gary Polis, a professor of environmental science and policy; his postgraduate researcher, Mike Rose; and three Japanese scientists died in a boat accident in the Mexican Sea of Cortez. Later that spring, graduate student and researcher Francis Bossuyt disappeared after going for a swim in a Peruvian lake near where he had been studying primates.

"It was the shock of that," said Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Dean Neal Van Alfen of Polis' death. "You learn firsthand what can happen. These were trips he had taken many, many times. He knew what he was doing."

But the tragic outcome of the trip, Van Alfen said, showed him and others at UC Davis that the university has a responsibility both to inform people of the risks of traveling to often remote research locations and to ensure they are well protected.

The events of Sept. 11 and its reverberations around the world have only heightened that interest, said Deborah Luthi, director of Risk Management Services. This has been a two-year collaborative process, she said, with Assistant Risk Manager Bonnie Robbins leading the design of the policy.

After researching travel policies of U.S. and Canadian universities, Robbins consulted with faculty and staff members, students and legal experts to write a policy that met campus's needs. "We did not want to create more work for faculty and staff, just a smarter way of doing business," Luthi said. "In the long run, (the policies) should simplify their lives, especially if losses can be averted through their safety efforts."

The new guidelines, listed in the Policy and Procedure Manual and available online at http://mrak.ucdavis.edu/web-mans/ppm/370/370-05.htm, contain information on the duties of the leader of the trip and the need for waiver agreements from participants showing that they understand the risks and responsibilities involved. Also developed was a safety check-off list - containing additional guidelines such as reviewing first-aid and food supplies - for trip leaders. Procedures for reporting an accident are also detailed.

Risk management also has acquired a travel accident insurance policy that students and staff and faculty members participating in trips can purchase for $11.50 per week. The policy, through AIG insurance, covers accidental death and dismemberment and major medical expenses; medical evacuation; repatriation of mortal remains; search and rescue; and assistance with lost luggage and passports.

In addition, Susan Williams, director of the Bodega Marine Laboratory, and Carl Foreman, director of Environmental Health and Safety, will form a committee to develop boating safety guidelines.

Today, Risk Management's Robbins will begin informing department management service officers about the new travel safety procedures. Informing them about the new guidelines is crucial, she said. "They are the business officers who organize things administratively for chairs and others who are planning trips."

Robbins and Dutschke will teach the class on travel planning, designed for department managers, on March 26.

Van Alfen said he has received positive feedback about the new travel guidelines from faculty members.

"They said this is what we should be doing," he said.

Deborah Rogers, a UC Davis conservation geneticist and director of the Monterey Pine Forest Ecology Cooperative, was one of the first campus researchers to take advantage of the campus's new efforts in travel planning.

In spring 2001 while Risk Management was in the midst of creating its guidelines, she began preparing for an expedition to Guadalupe and Cedros islands, off the coast of Baja California. Rogers wanted to research the Monterey pine, a tree found only in five locations in the world. The trip's logistics provided new territory for her, she admitted. "I was so completely focused on our objective - making seed collections of pine trees - that I was oblivious to other risks," Rogers said.

But with the help of risk management, she chartered a boat with insurance meeting UC Davis requirements, obtained waivers from the mix of trip participants (including Mexican and Australian scientists and UC and CSU graduate students), and got the right types of permits and research visas needed to do the group's work.

"Risk Management interpreted (its role) as, 'We want you to have a safe and successful trip. Here are some things you need to do.'"

For more information about the travel plans, call Robbins at (530) 752-9189 or see http://rms.ucdavis.edu/travel.htm.