surveying the land on Ben Dubh

As part of our traineeship in upland pathway building, we have been learning how to survey the land, both for potential risks and the types of path feature that may need to go on in there.
On Ben Dubh, a 642m peak rising high above Luss and overlooking Loch Lomond, we focussed on a short lower ground section, not far from the Glen Luss roadside parking spots. Using all-weather notebooks and folders, and good old fashioned pencilled, we draw in the various natural features of the site - from trees and vegetation to the existing pathway and any gates - while measuring out sections of the route with a metre marker you can roll along the ground as you go. At each point we weighed up the natural features, considered to the best of our knowledge which pathway features might work best and where, then drew them onto our maps using standardised key symbols for each different feature. The exercise was, in effect, during up a 'job spec' for future work on the site, in the same way we have followed previously drawn up job specification surveys on our two work sites thus far: Craigmore and Ben A'an.
These industry-standard job spec and surveys enable accurate representations to be made of the type of work required, and the challenges of the land in question. They also recorded any potential hazards such as an exposed pipe on the ground which runs through sections of the old pathway on this site.
With this in mind, we returned to the same section of Ben Dubh, weeks later, to carry out a risk assessment of the site, a further key consideration we are learning about as part of our course and work.
Using a standardised format of scoring each potential risk against the likelihood of harm, we were able to draw up calculations and then list any potential ways in which each of those risks may be removed, mitigated or avoided. For example if a risk was falling stone we could ensure signage was in place, workers communicated with each other at all times and that the public may be held back/asked to wait for short period if any important lifting/carrying was in progress. Once each such risk is mitigated against, it comes in with a new calculation of overall risk, the final number dictating whether it as acceptable or unacceptable risk being faced.
The exposed pipe we would deemed a high end risk, potential unacceptable to work around even with any mitigating things put in place to minimise the risk of harm.
It was interesting to take a site and draw up plans for it from scratch, then seeing all the potential limitations on such work - such as health and safety factors. This learning is crucial to our development as path workers and our future in the industry as a whole.