The immediate action checklist for group leaders during a visit should cover the following factors:

• establishing the nature and extent of emergency promptly
• ensuring that everyone in the group is safe
• establishing the names of casualties and arranging immediate medical attention
• ensuring a teacher/lecturer accompanies casualties to hospital, providing doctors with any relevant medical information
• notifying the police if necessary
• informing the school or college contact and provider/tour operator. Someone at the school or college should be available on the telephone at all times during the trip
• contacting the school or college with the following information: the nature, date and time of the incident; where it happened; names of casualties and information about their injuries; what has been done so far and action yet to be taken
• notifying the British Embassy or Consulate if incident occurs abroad
• ensuring that the school/college notify parents and, normally, insurers
• ascertaining phone numbers for future calls q writing down what happened promptly, noting witnesses and preserving vital evidence
• keeping an account of events, times and contacts after any incident q completing an accident report as soon as possible. (Serious accidents or incidents involving violence may need to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive)
• referring any media enquiries to a named contact in the LEA or at the school/college q not discussing legal liability
• keeping receipts of costs incurred in the emergency (for the insurers).   

Further guidance on what should be in an emergency procedure can be found in chapter ten of the DfES guidance Health and safety of pupils on educational visits and in the supplementary guidance Standards for LEAs in overseeing educational visits and A handbook for group leaders. This is available from the Teachernet website. 

Help and advice

For more detailed advice, please refer to ATL's publication Taking students off-site.

For individual queries, please contact ATL's London office, e-mail the helpdesk, or contact your branch secretary. You may also wish to call the out-of-office-hours helpline.

If you need confidential support and advice, don't forget you can also call ATL's stress, crisis or legal helplines.