Enabling Fieldwork for All (EFFA) Framework: Supporting physical, social, financial, and psychological safety in the field.

Abstract

Calls to address fieldwork safety that began in the 1980s have been amplified and expanded in the past decade by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and US federal funding agencies. Now, research on fieldwork safety and resulting recommendations are largely siloed by scientific discipline, limiting the spread of data and discussion that could yield rapid change for field research. This review synthesizes literature on fieldwork safety across scientific disciplines, highlighting four facets of safety for leaders and researchers to address: physical, social, financial, and psychological. Literature and real-life events demonstrate that the four facets of safety are interconnected and should be considered together. The review concludes with a synthesis of recommendations for each facet of safety. This review provides principal investigators with accessible, data-driven resources and propose a framework for future research on field safety that will enable cross-disciplinary sharing.