Field Trip Safety

Risk Assessment & Planning

While you can never eliminate risk, you can mitigate it by addressing each trips challenges with carefully placed structure, support and movement. This begins with our teams risk assessment of every field trip location.

Preparation

Every movement from camper drop off zone, to the door we will enter, is carefully mapped out ahead of time. Nothing is accidental and everything is intentional. Our team meticulously plans and prepares ahead of each trip.

Safety Protcols

Ratio

The State of Maryland has a 15:1 ratio, when on field trips our ratio is 7:1 or lower. Based on there risk assessment, we mitigate risk by lowering the ratio based on the risk. Thus, a low risk trip to the movies would be 7:1, while a trip to the Air and Space museum, moderate risk, would be set at 5:1.

Color coordinating

All campers get two different colored shirts with their registration fee. We color code on every trip

Actual Educational Engagement

At museums our campers engage exhibits though unique programming we design months, and even years, ahead of time.

Van Safety

We travel everywhere though passenger vans instead of buses. To mitigate risk, we ensure all campers are in seat belts. Campers requiring boosters by Maryland State Law are required to be in them. Our drivers all have their driving history throughly checked. We even teach campers how to carefully enter, and exit, the van in a structured sequence. Lastly, we make it a fun ride!

Swim Safety

The highest risk activity we do all summer is arguably swim….here we mitigate risk several ways.

  1. Campers under 4’ in height must wear a swimming aide, unless they can pass the swim test.

  2. Campers cannot swim in the deep pool, or deep end unless they can pass the swim test.

  3. Staff take the swim test with campers, in the event they begin to struggle, we have proximity to them and can step in to help.

  4. While the state requires on one “watcher” for every 25 swimmers (25:1 ratio), Active Minds has a swim ratio between 13:1 and 7:1.

  5. We have swimmers in the water with kids we deem high risk, our youngest and smallest….again giving proximity to them.