School Briefing Note

Sat 20 May 2023 - Sun 21 May 2023

I hope you are all well. I am pleased to provide you with the details of the expedition titled above.

Insurance

Participants are covered by BXM Expeditions in the event of negligence by one of its employees or agents. Please be aware that personal belongings or personal injury through inappropriate behaviour is not covered.

Expedition Details

Assessment Expedition

Group Emergency Procedures

• Everyone should familiarise themselves with allergies and medications of individual members within their group. This should be included within the afternoon group discussions.
• Conserve the battery life of your mobile phone: don't use it for playing music, text or calls.
• Never split up. In the event of something happening & no phone signal is available, then two should go & find the nearest help, taking a map and making a note of their location & time they set off.
• Recognise the signs of hypothermia & hyperthermia. If individuals or groups become too cold they should
  • Take out their flysheet from their tent & use as a shelter.
  • Get out emergency survival bags & sleeping bags to keep warm.
  • Warm up some water to sip or drink.
  • Contact their leader & await their response, however, if it is not possible to contact their leader & the group is deteriorating then call the emergency services (999).
• Knowing the difference between a leader and 999 call, for example
  • A broken arm - you can still walk so it's a leader call.
  • A broken leg or a bang on the head - do not move them; call a leader but if it is serious then also call 999. Keep the person injured warm and comfortable to prevent hyperthermia.
• In all circumstances groups must keep their leader informed. Often leaders can make decisions over the phone. If groups can't get through to their leaders they can use the BXM on call number 0800 4332963.
• Prior to walking, groups shall be given a briefing on the best emergency evacuation route. For example, if there are no cliffs then groups can head downhill, which could invariably lead them to a road with houses and farms which have names; this can will provide them with a geographical location.
• A group must phone their leader in the following circumstances:
  • If they become lost or cannot determine their location after one hour unless injured,
  • If they haven\'t seen a member of staff for two hours but were expecting to,
  • If they aren\'t expected to arrive back at camp by 17:30pm, unless their leader is aware of their location.

Mobile Phones

Please send the following to all participants:

We live in the real world now and we like you to bring a phone for emergencies. However, there are many apps now that can be used in conjunction with your paper map, many of which will tell you grid references or even show you the map. The rule is that you should be trusted not to be communicating with others outside of your group, therefore a leader can ask you any time and if your phone is not on airplane mode then this could jeopardise your entire group expedition. You should only take it off airplane mode to call a leader or 999, DO NOT CALL HOME WITHOUT SPEAKING TO YOUR LEADERS. Do not use your phone at the campsite for music or any other use. If you do want to look at an app then you OS LOCATE is a good one or the Ordinance survey map where you can download the section of where you are. Some can even track where you\'ve been. YOU STILL MUST BE ABLE TO PROVE YOU CAN NAVIGATE WITH A MAP AND COMPASS (BXM does not supply compasses).