Procedures for medical care 5. Collection of safety data 6. Collection of data for property damage Protection of the Documentation Steps must be taken to protect and preserve documentation in the field so there is no need to revisit a site because of incomplete, lost or illegible notes. Many field operations take place in adverse conditions such as rain, snow, mud, oil, sludge, etc. Couple these elements with the long duration of many operations.
Documentation can get wet, torn, crumpled and become generally illegible.
Disaster response personnel may employ a variety of note-taking methods in an attempt to protect their valuable data from loss. These methods include plastic boards with markers and clipboards housed in plastic bags. Fortunately with the advent of all-weather paper and notebooks much of the hassle of protecting field documentation has been removed. Standard forms can be pre-produced on a paper designed for outdoor use. Personnel can be equipped with all-weather notebooks.