Geocaching Risk Assessment Template

Typical hazards & measures

• Route planning and permissions — Plan only on public rights of way or approved land, secure landowner or council permission where needed, pre-walk the full route to note hazards and access limits, brief printed maps and firm boundaries to pupils, and record final decisions in the activity log before departure.
• Suspicious item or public concern — Treat any unknown container as suspect until identified, withdraw the group to a safe distance, verify the listing by a leader, avoid handling objects with wires or pressure, and be prepared to explain the activity politely to curious members of the public.
• Low light and visibility — Prefer daylight timings, equip leaders with torches if dusk is possible, add high-visibility vests for any road interface, forbid night caching with pupils, and cancel or reroute if fog, glare or failing light drop visibility below a safe standard for group travel.
• Tools and reaching equipment — Forbid ladders, magnets near traffic, long poles under power lines or improvised fishing; if a reach aid is essential, an adult uses it in clear space with spotters, and any cache demanding specialist tools is skipped or replaced with a safe equivalent task.
• Dogs and livestock — Pass animals slowly with space, avoid fields with loose cattle or horses, keep groups tight and calm, never run at or pet dogs, reroute to alternate rights of way if stock crowds the path, and follow any temporary diversion requested by landowners.