Safety Officer
Natural Leaders take turns serving as Safety Officer (SO) for the group.
As the SO, you are the team’s sentry for the day. Your role is to maintain a lookout for hazards like wasps and snakes (in season). You should be alert to dangerous knife use, widowmakers, strangers, etc.
In the woods, as in daily life, there is always the possibility of danger – especially when no one is paying attention.
Learning to manage risks effectively allows you to do more in life, it expands your options.
As the safety officer you help protect the group by keeping an eye out for potential hazards, while others are distracted by conversations or other activities.
Some people respond to the existence of risk by limiting behavior (e.g. avoiding the woods). Our approach is to learn the hazards and avoid them.
As the SO, you are the team’s sentry for the day. Your role is to maintain a lookout for hazards like wasps and snakes (in season). You should be alert to dangerous knife use, widowmakers, strangers, etc.
In the woods, as in daily life, there is always the possibility of danger – especially when no one is paying attention.
Learning to manage risks effectively allows you to do more in life, it expands your options.
As the safety officer you help protect the group by keeping an eye out for potential hazards, while others are distracted by conversations or other activities.
Some people respond to the existence of risk by limiting behavior (e.g. avoiding the woods). Our approach is to learn the hazards and avoid them.
Knife Safety Rules
Our 3 basic rules of knife safety - students should memorize the underlined rules 1 to 3, and be able to explain and demonstrate them.
Rule 1. Obtain permission before using knife (unless it has been announced).
Rule 2. Get safely situated - Sheathed, Sitting, Solo:
Rule 3. Carve safely - Slowly, Strong, Smart:
Identifying high-risk carvers:
When teaching knife safety, especially to students under 8 years old, the facilitator should watch the student very carefully, and have each student demonstrate that he or she understands the rules, how to handle the knife properly, etc.
Some students, especially 6 and under, may struggle with basic knife handling and should only carve with close 1-on-1 supervision.
It's very important to identify these high-risk students right away, and not allow them to carve until an instructor or senior student can provide the appropriate attention and guidance.
If you see that a student is violating knife safety rules, perhaps appears not to understand them, then you should ask that student to stop carving, and an instructor should evaluate if that student should be carving.
Introductory challenge for first-time carvers:
When students are being introduced to carving for the first time, they should start with a very simple, straightforward carving challenge.
The student should work with a piece of straight and relatively soft wood (e.g. tulip poplar, red maple) that is not too rotten, does not have much in the way of lumps, curves or any side-branches.
The carving task should be to sharpen the stick, or to remove bark, or to just carve off fine shavings or make a fuzz stick. The goal is for the student to get comfortable handling the knife and making basic carving strokes as safely as possible.
Rule 1. Obtain permission before using knife (unless it has been announced).
Rule 2. Get safely situated - Sheathed, Sitting, Solo:
- Sheathed knife when not using it (do not set down, or jab into ground, wood, etc).
- Sitting or kneel (unless operation can only be performed standing – like cutting a certain branch).
- Solo from others, and avoid spots where people are likely to walk or run past.
Rule 3. Carve safely - Slowly, Strong, Smart:
- Slowly move knife in and out of the sheath.
- Strong grip on the knife.
- Smart: Push blade toward air or cutting board only. Blade never moves towards any body parts.
Identifying high-risk carvers:
When teaching knife safety, especially to students under 8 years old, the facilitator should watch the student very carefully, and have each student demonstrate that he or she understands the rules, how to handle the knife properly, etc.
Some students, especially 6 and under, may struggle with basic knife handling and should only carve with close 1-on-1 supervision.
It's very important to identify these high-risk students right away, and not allow them to carve until an instructor or senior student can provide the appropriate attention and guidance.
If you see that a student is violating knife safety rules, perhaps appears not to understand them, then you should ask that student to stop carving, and an instructor should evaluate if that student should be carving.
Introductory challenge for first-time carvers:
When students are being introduced to carving for the first time, they should start with a very simple, straightforward carving challenge.
The student should work with a piece of straight and relatively soft wood (e.g. tulip poplar, red maple) that is not too rotten, does not have much in the way of lumps, curves or any side-branches.
The carving task should be to sharpen the stick, or to remove bark, or to just carve off fine shavings or make a fuzz stick. The goal is for the student to get comfortable handling the knife and making basic carving strokes as safely as possible.
Widowmakers
Occasionally trees, or large branches fall. Whenever the group stops in a given area, look carefully at the surrounding trees. Are there any dead branches above that could hit the group it they were to fall? Dead trees? Examine these carefully and ask which way they would likely fall. Brief the coordinator about any such hazards.
Elevated risk factors:
Recent rain: rain, especially if prolonged, can cause dead branches or trees to become waterlogged, heavier and weaker – more likely to fall.
Wind: strong wind, and gusts, can knock things down.
Large, old trees.
Tulip poplars. These fast-growing trees can be very large, and seem to shed branches relatively often.
Elevated risk factors:
Recent rain: rain, especially if prolonged, can cause dead branches or trees to become waterlogged, heavier and weaker – more likely to fall.
Wind: strong wind, and gusts, can knock things down.
Large, old trees.
Tulip poplars. These fast-growing trees can be very large, and seem to shed branches relatively often.
Wasps (esp. June - Oct)
Ground wasps sting if we disturb the nest. In our region, nest-building typically begins in May or June, nest size peaks July - Sep, and active nests can be found into early November. By December nests are generally dead, and are not reused the next year.
Nests can be found by scanning the ground ahead of you as you travel – watching for wasps flying up and/or down from a nest.
Another approach is to walk as second or third in line. If the leader walks over a nest, wasps may fly out to investigate, and may not attack the first people who stepped on the nest. The riled-up wasps may be more noticeable than initially, so you can see them, stop, and warn others.
In open areas, one can easily run away from an angry nest. But if moving through unusually dense vegetation this may not be possible, making it important to be extra careful to spot and avoid a nest. The same goes for rocky ground, steep slopes, swampy areas, rock scrambling – any terrain where you cannot quickly and safely escape, you need to be extra careful not to disturb a nest! Also use extra care if there is a group member who cannot be counted on to move quickly away due to poor footwear, physical injuries, elderly status, etc.
Remember, while wasp nests are most commonly in the ground, they can also be found in rock crevices, logs, and suspended from low-branches at any height.
When it is raining, reduced visibility makes it very hard to spot nests, but wasps will still be active and defensive!
Nests can be found by scanning the ground ahead of you as you travel – watching for wasps flying up and/or down from a nest.
Another approach is to walk as second or third in line. If the leader walks over a nest, wasps may fly out to investigate, and may not attack the first people who stepped on the nest. The riled-up wasps may be more noticeable than initially, so you can see them, stop, and warn others.
In open areas, one can easily run away from an angry nest. But if moving through unusually dense vegetation this may not be possible, making it important to be extra careful to spot and avoid a nest. The same goes for rocky ground, steep slopes, swampy areas, rock scrambling – any terrain where you cannot quickly and safely escape, you need to be extra careful not to disturb a nest! Also use extra care if there is a group member who cannot be counted on to move quickly away due to poor footwear, physical injuries, elderly status, etc.
Remember, while wasp nests are most commonly in the ground, they can also be found in rock crevices, logs, and suspended from low-branches at any height.
When it is raining, reduced visibility makes it very hard to spot nests, but wasps will still be active and defensive!
The entrance to this wasp nest is by the log, near the flag-stick I placed to help us avoid them. Note the yellowjackets coming and going. This nest was apparently destroyed by heavy rains. At any rate, I found it abandoned and disintegrated in late summer.
This bald-faced hornet nest was built unusually low to the ground -- usually I see them high in trees. It was destroyed in late summer, probably by a raccoon.
These are European hornets, aka giant hornets. They are about an inch long, bigger than yellowjackets or bald-faced hornets, but smaller than cicada killers. I usually see one or two at a time, feeding on sap at the base of a tree. So far I've only ever found them nesting in the hollows of oak trees (3 nests, total). The one time I've seen a student stung by one, the reaction was no different than from a yellow jacket.
This is a solitary, non-colonial, hence, non-aggressive wasp. It is digging a hole in which to bury an egg or two on a paralyzed invertebrate that will serve as the baby food. I'm not sure of the species, but looks like a Sphecid wasp of some kind. After burying it's eggs, it will abandon them, and potentially start working on a new hole in which to lay more eggs.
This is a juvenile copperhead (probably about 10 inches long), the only venomous snake species found in most of the mid-Atlantic's lowland areas. This one's climbed up a bit, but they usually are on or near the ground in my experience. Note the yellow tail.
Snakes
Copperheads are the only venomous snake one should find in the wild near DC, although timber rattlesnakes can be found in parts of Prince William and Loudoun Counties, and points west of there, especially at higher elevations.
As one heads down toward the Virginia Beach area, water moccasins become a possibility too.
Every outdoorsman should spend time memorizing the venomous snakes of one's area, and be able to confidently distinguish them from other snakes in the same area.
See the Virginia Herpetological Society's excellent page on copperheads and look-alikes here.
Be sure to test your knowledge on the quiz they offer here.
As one heads down toward the Virginia Beach area, water moccasins become a possibility too.
Every outdoorsman should spend time memorizing the venomous snakes of one's area, and be able to confidently distinguish them from other snakes in the same area.
See the Virginia Herpetological Society's excellent page on copperheads and look-alikes here.
Be sure to test your knowledge on the quiz they offer here.
Safety Topics
Here is a list of various wilderness dangers and first aid topics to choose from. You should come up with a short presentation that emphasizes the practical things we should know to avoid and/or manage the hazard.
- Hypothermia (moderate, severe)
- Frostbite
- Hyperthermia
- Heat stroke
- Dehydration
- Trenchfoot
- Snakebites
- Specific snake species
- Stinging insects (wasps, bees, caterpillars, wheel bugs)
- Black bears
- Grizzly bears
- Mountain lions
- Twisted ankles
- Broken long bones
- Puncture wounds
- Simple wound first aid
- Spinal injuries
- Skin infections
- Poison ivy
- Poison hemlock
- Allergy & Anaphylaxis
- Dislocations
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Diabetes
- Lightning
- Ticks and tick borne illnesses
- Asthma
- Altitude sickness
- Rabies
