SAFETY AND SECURITY OF LAND SURVEYOR IN REMOTE AREAS:

INTERVENTION PROGRAM
BIN-NAJ’R K. DILANGALEN
St. John Paul II College of Davao

Abstract – This research is concern about the safety and security of land surveyors in remote areas.
Workers or employees that are working in remote or rural areas are at increased risk for accident and
injuries. Poor road management, mechanical problems, accidents, and adverse or bad weather can all
contribute to risky driving conditions. Since Land Surveyors and Geodetic Engineers are working in the
Remote or rural areas, these employees must have their responsibilities to follow in order to avoid and
mitigate unsafe work condition and prevent threats and injuries. Thus, this research was made to
determine the different safety and security of Geodetic Engineers and Land Surveyors in remote areas
together with the responsibilities. A total of 30 respondents which are Licensed Geodetic Engineers in
the Philippines was chosen to answer questionnaire which consist of 15 questions regarding the
calibration of instruments, legal actions, Safety Responsibilities and Environmental Hazard, and First
aid kit training with five-point Likert’s scale. The research made used of the descriptive quantitative
method to obtain information concerning the Safety and security of Land Surveyors in remote area with
respect to the variable or condition in a situation. The statistics used to find the significance of the
relationship between independent and dependent variables is mean and standard deviation. Based on the
analysis of the result, the influence of the respondents of the safety and security of land surveyors has an
overall mean rating of high. This means that the geodetic engineers and land surveyor when conducting
a land survey has a high level of degree of safety and security in remote areas.

Keywords: Safety and Security, Land Surveyor, Remote Areas

1. Introduction
Safety and Security of the workers in remote areas are important because it saves them from
danger. This become important for the workers especially the Land surveyors and Geodetic Engineers
because it guides to raise awareness among person conducting a business or undertaking, safety
practitioners, managers, supervisors and workers of the hazards which will be present for people
required to figure remotely or in isolation [1]. In addition, Jeff Ambrose states that Individual workers or
employees are responsible for determining whether or if there are any site-specific safety rules and
requirements. They must be notified and follow the safety standards if this is the situation. In the same
study, it further stated that no employee is forced to conduct work that he or she considers to be unsafe,
and that employees should speak out if they see a potentially dangerous circumstance or behavior [2]. It
is important to learn the legal mandates and actions like Survey Order and Survey Authority Permit [3]
before conducting land surveying in order to conduct a legal land survey. According to the article posted
by Smartrak, there are five reasons why working in remote areas are dangerous. These are isolation, lack
of communication, Workplace condition, Emergency situation, and travel [4]. In the Philippines, about
10,381 number of transport accident occurred in 2018 [5] which is 48% of accident occurring in rural
areas [4]. These problematic situations prompted the researcher to investigate the plausible causes or
factors that would predict the Safety and security of the land surveyors in the Philippines. Thus, making
this institutional research is beneficial to increase the Safety and Security of the land surveyors. The
formulated research objectives are as follows:

1. To determine the degree of safety and security of the Geodetic Engineers conducting land
survey in remote areas
2. To discover the importance of administrative order when conducting land survey
3. To determine the degree of knowledge and practice of using first aid kit of the Geodetic
Engineers.
The research objectives are converted into null hypotheses and they are tested @ .05 Level of
Significance.
Ho1 There are no importance of legal mandates and actions that are related in conducting land survey
Ho2 There are no practices in using first aid kit of the Geodetic Engineers

2. Methodology
The study employed descriptive quantitative research design. Quantitative methods represent an
attempt to gather measurable data for statistical analysis of the population sample [6]. The potential
study participants who meet the inclusion criteria are Licensed Geodetic Engineers of the Philippines.
These respondents are coming from the selected Region of the Philippines which are Region I, XI, and
XII. The respondent from Region I is two (2), Region XI is nineteen (19), while Region XII is nine (9)
with a total number of thirty (30) Licensed Geodetic Engineers. The researcher adopted the research
instrument from three sources. For the Calibration and legal actions, the source was from DENR
Administrative Order No. 2007-29 (DAO 2007-29) [3]. For Safety Responsibilities and Environmental
Hazard, the source was from PDH Online Center [7]. For the First aid kit related, the source was from
Caltrans Code of Safe Surveying Practices [8]. A five-point Likert’s scale was sued in determining the
descriptive level of the variables. The mean, and standard deviation were the statistical used for data
treatment and analysis.
3. Results

The Table 1 shows that the overall level of Safety and Security of Land Surveyors in Remote
Areas gained a mean rating of 4.27 or high. This points that the safety and security of land surveyors are
always manifested. The overall computed standard deviation equivalent to 0.217 provides an indication
that the individual responses to the statements of this variable were clustered around the mean, except
for the items #1, 2, and 3 which were little over 1 point away from the mean.
Table 1
LEVEL OF SAFETY AND SECURITY OF LAND SURVEYORS IN REMOTE AREAS

Standard Descriptive
Item Mean
Deviation Equivalent
1. bring first aid kit during surveying schedule. .915 3.70 High
2. have first aid training for at least once every two
.828 2.73 Moderate
years.
3. perform first aid to treat any injuries, and seek
.819 3.87 High
emergency treatment as needed.
4. physical fit before performing work, especially
.571 4.53 Very High
strenuous activity.
5. ensure that the survey vehicle is in proper
.679 4.57 Very High
working condition.
6. see to it that all legal papers required to conduct
.407 4.80 Very High
land surveying are intact
7. always check for the date of validity of the
original certificate of instrument registration (CIR)
.615 4.63 Very High
for calibration purposes before conducting land
survey.
8. renew CIR of the surveying instrument every 2-
.346 4.87 Very High
3 years.
9. furnish the copy of the CIR at the start of every
.765 4.37 High
year for index purposes.
10. ensure that land survey plan is available upon
request from the authority of the owner, legal .556 4.63 Very High
claimant, authorized representative, or court order
11. explain the nature of surveying purpose to
.346 4.87 Very High
concerned individuals in the field.
12. use personal protective equipment when
.877 4.30 High
conducting land survey in remote areas.
13. secure survey authority and survey order
.814 4.40 High
before conducting land survey.
14. bring Survey Authority Permit (SAP) when
1.147 4.17 High
performing land survey in remote area.
15. call the barangay captain or police when
.606 4.67 Very High
conflict arises during the conduct of survey.
 Overall .279 4.03 High

Sorting out the details of the results, there are three items with the highest mean rating and these
are - explain the nature of surveying purpose to concerned individuals in the field and renew CIR of the
surveying instrument every 2-3 years with mean rating of 4.87 or very high and standard deviation of
0.346. The rest of the sub-indicators of the safety and security of land surveyors with very high
descriptive equivalent are classified from highest to lowest mean ratings: 4.80 or Very high with
standard deviation of 0.407 for see to it that all legal papers required to conduct land surveying are
intact; 4.67 or Very high with standard deviation of 0.606 for call the barangay captain or police when
conflict arises during the conduct of survey; Two for 4.63 or Very high for ensure that land survey plan
is available upon request from the authority of the owner, legal claimant, authorized representative, or
court order and always check for the date of validity of the original certificate of instrument registration
(CIR) for calibration purposes before conducting land survey with standard deviation of 0.556 and
0.615 respectively; 4.57 or Very high with standard deviation of 0.679 for ensure that the survey vehicle
is in proper working condition; 4.53 or Very high with standard deviation of 0.517 for physical fit before
performing work, especially strenuous activity.
Putting emphasis to items with high qualitative description, 4.40 or High and standard deviation
0.814 for secure survey authority and survey order before conducting land survey; 4.37 or High and
standard deviation 0.765 for furnish the copy of the CIR at the start of every year for index purposes;
4.30 or High with standard deviation 0.877 for use personal protective equipment when conducting land
survey in remote areas; 4.17 or High with standard deviation 1.147 for bring Survey Authority Permit
(SAP) when performing land survey in remote area; 3.87 or High with standard deviation 0.819 for
perform first aid to treat any injuries, and seek emergency treatment as needed; 3.70 or High with
standard deviation 0.915 for bring first aid kit during surveying schedule. However, the item with the
lowest mean rating of 2.73 described as moderate with standard deviation of 0.828 is - have first aid
training for at least once every two years.
Intervention Program
After carefully analyzing and interpreting the consolidated findings of the quantitative and
qualitative data on the safety and security of land surveyors, an intervention program was designed as
reflected in table 1. Indicator items with moderate to high ratings in the table are given focus in the
intervention design. These items are “perform first aid to treat any injuries, and seek emergency
treatment as needed” with a mean rating of 3.87; bring first aid kit during surveying schedule with a
mean rating of 3.70; and have first aid training for at least once every two years with a mean rating of
2.73.
I. Title: First Aid Training for Land Surveyors
II. Rationale:
Learning first aid training is important especially to those workers who works in secluded and
remote areas. Employees may experience a difficulty in requesting for help if an accident occurs while
they are working in a distant location [1]. There are many different kinds of risk and threats that can be
found when working in rural or remote areas. The possible danger that they might encounter are
environmental risk and hostile peoples living in rural areas who does not want trespasser to enter their
property. Thus, challenging conditions and situations are present when working on these remote areas
especially to the land surveyor and a Geodetic Engineer [9].
These Geodetic Engineers and Land surveyors must be trained on how to use First aid kit and
perform First aid treatment. There are Safety Training Organization (STO) that offers first aid training
and most of them offers Online first aid training. These STO can be found on the Department of Labor
and Employment (DOLE) website [10]. These STO offers different types of training. Among these
training, it is recommended for the Geodetic Engineers and Land surveyors to take Standard First Aid
and Basic Life Support or Occupational First Aid and Basic Life Support training course [11].
The rationale Mentioned above discussed the importance of first aid training for Geodetic
Engineers and Land Surveyors. It also conversed about different STO that offers first aid training with
the recommendation of training course that the Geodetic Engineers and Land Surveyor should take.
 III. Proposed Enhancement Program
Table 2
Intervention Scheme

Areas of Concern Objectives Strategies/Activities Person/Office Timeline

Responsible

➢ bring first aid kit •Provide Geodetic Engineers •Invite a Safety Training
during surveying information on when to bring Organization Company from
schedule. first aid kit. DOLE to conduct seminar on the
information related to
-DOLE
• Provide Geodetic Engineer classification of first aid and when
information on what to bring it. Before Conducting
-STO company
classification of first aid kit to Land Survey
bring. •Encourage the Geodetic
Engineers to bring first aid kit
•Educate Geodetic Engineers during surveying schedule.
when to use First aid kit.
•Conduct a Seminar.

➢ have first aid • Educate Geodetic Engineers • Invite a Safety Training

training for at least to use First aid kit.
once every two
years. • Expose Geodetic Engineers
to practice first aid kit in
different kind of situation.
• Retool Geodetic Engineers
with first aid kit to prevent •Conduct a Seminar.
the injured person from
getting worse.
Organization Company from
DOLE to conduct seminar on to
perform practice First aid.
-DOLE
Before Conducting
• Provide a Certificate after Land Survey
-STO company
Seminar as compensation
➢ perform first aid •Enrich Geodetic Engineers • Invite a Safety Training
to treat any injuries, on the use of First aid kit. Organization Company from
and seek emergency DOLE to conduct teambuilding
treatment as needed. •Promote cooperation and on to perform practice First aid.
-DOLE
teamwork between Engineers
and surveyors to use first aid • Practices to perform first aid Before Conducting
-STO company
kit. training Land Survey

•Provide Geodetic Engineer • Conduct Teambuilding

with strong awareness
together with the survey
team.
4. Discussion and Conclusion
In this study, the results from 30 Licensed Geodetic Engineers shows that most of the
respondents supported most of the sources of the research objective. The findings shows that the
respondents follow the Legal Actions, Instrument Calibration, and Safety Responsibilities when
conducting land survey in remote areas. The result shows similar concerning to the Safety
Responsibilities found in the study of Huang (2006), on physical health of a surveyor working in
strenuous activity. The result of the finding opposes the article from SmartTrack (2013) on
mechanical failures since most of the respondent’s answered that the engineer’s checks their
vehicles before conducting land survey. The results also shows that all of the respondent follows
the legal actions on DENR Administrative Order No. 2007-29 (DAO 2007-29) before
conducting land survey by securing Survey Order, Survey Authority and calibrating their
instrument every 2 years. For the conclusion, the researcher found out that the 3 lowest mean
items from the result were all about the application of First Aid training in remote areas and so
the researcher crafted a study for intervention program titled. The researcher created a special
study for intervention program titled First Aid Training for Land Surveyors. This intervention
program was made because of the 3 lowest mean items from the results which and these were
about the application of First aid kit in land surveying. The purpose of the intervention program
is to address or propose an activities and strategies together with the objectives regarding to the
lowest mean items from the results.

5. Acknowledgment
The researcher of this study would like to express their deepest gratitude to those people who
whole-heartedly helped in making this endeavor a reality. Friends, who actively supported the
researchers in their journey in making this research possible. Licensed Geodetic Engineers, who
helped to become a respondent of this research study. Professors, who eagerly guided the
researchers and willingly helped the researchers in times of needs. Beloved parents, who happily
and supportively showered their support morally, spiritually, and financially. They are an
inspiration and the source of energy of the researchers. And most especially tour Almighty God,
who gave us strength and knowledge in making this research a success.
6. References
[[1] Comcare’s Guide to Remote or Isolated work - https://www.comcare.gov.au/about/forms-
publications/documents/publications/safety/remote-or-isolated-work-guide.pdf

[2] Surveyor’s Safety Handbook - https://www.dewberry.com/docs/default-

source/brochures/surveyorsafetyhandbook.pdf

[3] DENR Administrative Order No. 2007-29 - https://ncr.denr.gov.ph/images/NCR-

2019/IVAS_CORNER/DAO_2007-29_Revised_Regulations_on_Land_Surveys.pdf

[4] The top 5 dangers in remote areas - https://smartrak.com/the-top-5-dangers-for-remote-workers/

[5] Philippine Health Statistics -

https://doh.gov.ph/sites/default/files/publications/2018%20Philippine%20Health%20Statistics.pdf

[6] Descriptive Research: Definition, Characteristics, Methods, Examples and Advantages -

https://www.questionpro.com/blog/descriptive-research/

[7] Land Surveying Safety Guide - https://pdhonline.com/courses/l101/02_surveys.pdf

[8] Caltrans Code of Safe Surveying Practices - https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/right-of-

way/documents/ls-manual/02-surveys-figure-2-1-a11y.pdf

[9] Surveyor Safety Handbook - https://www.dewberry.com/docs/default-

source/brochures/surveyorsafetyhandbook.pdf

[10] Safety Training Organization - https://oshc.dole.gov.ph/sto/

[11] First aid training (Philippine Red Cross) - https://redcross.org.ph/trainings/