Field safety for early career researchers

Photo: Sampling supraglacial debris for cosmogenic nuclide analysis from Karzok Kangri, Ladakh.

Early-career geoscientists, whether they are aware of it or not, may be particularly vulnerable to compromising their safety in the field.  I have found it challenging to balance safe and responsible research with high-quality and ambitious research. It is easy to become excited about your fieldwork and forget that ‘collecting that last rock sample’ or dealing with ‘just a twisted ankle’ can launch a cascade of events that can endanger you and your team.

I was invited to write an article for Nature Careers about the topic of field safety. The article outlines some of the issues with the way we approach field safety in the geosciences and what we can do to improve the safety of everyone working in the field. This article followed on from a conference talk I presented at the GSA 2016 annual meeting which addressed some of the concerns that early career researchers have about personal safety during fieldwork.

Orr, E. N., 2017, Put safety first, Nature 551, 663- 665. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-017-07529-6

Orr, E, N., 2016. Strong is the new pretty’- tales of early-career female geologists, T94. GSA 2016 Annual Meeting, Denver, CO. 10.13140/RG.2.2.24000.94728