Health & Safety

Extension staff and volunteers that lead 4-H programs, projects, or activities need to protect participants and others from harm. In the event of an accident, injury, or other incident, it is important to respond proactively.

Reporting
If the incident/accident occurred under the supervision of a volunteer, the volunteer should complete the non-employee injury/incide​nt report and submit it to the local Extension staff person. If the injury/incident poses a serious risk to 4-H Program participant(s), Extension volunteer(s), or a third party, the volunteer providing supervision should IMMEDIATELY NOTIFY Extension staff using the procedures outlined in the Wisconsin 4-H Volunteer Injury and Incident Reporting​ Procedures.​

Report Submission (Extension Staff Only)
If the Extension staff person was supervising or received a report from a volunteer the Extension staff should follow the instructions for how to report high-risk injuries & incidents in the employee handbook.

Report/Record Retention (Extension Staff Only)
The Extension staff should also keep a copy of the report in a secure location in the event you need to file a claim to the company holding accident insurance coverage, i.e. American Income Life; three years for adults or until age 21 for youth.​

Wisconsin 4-H staff and/or volunteers are REQUIRED to collect the UW-Madison Youth Event Health Form from all youth participants for all overnight 4-H programs and/or activities.  It is RECOMMENDED that Wisconsin 4-H Staff and/or volunteers collect the UW-Madison Youth Event Health Form from all youth participants for all 4-H programs and/or activities that are three or more hours in duration and where 4-H staff or volunteers are in custodial care.*

* It is recommended that staff or volunteers in custodial care of youth in programs less than 3 hours should have access to emergency contact information for youth participants.

IMPORTANT: 

• ALL overnight 4-H programs and activities MUST be reviewed and approved by a 4-H Program Educator or a 4-H State Specialist.
• A Health Coordinator is REQUIRED when collecting health forms. 
• All health forms MUST be reviewed and in the possession of a Health Coordinator during the 4-H program or activity.
• All health forms MUST be submitted to the Extension Office following the 4-H program or activity to comply with UW-Madison Records Retention policies.

Health Coordinator

The Health Coordinator role provides leadership for the health and safety needs of participants and works cooperatively with youth and adult volunteers in providing a safe event for youth. 

NEW for Fall of 2026: All Health Coordinators must be registered for each program, camp or activity. Registration must be completed prior to the start date of the program, camp or activity by an Educator or Specialist and include the following:

Health Coordinators must submit documentation that they are a physician, registered nurse, physician assistant, practical nurse, National Athletic Trainers’ Association certified trainer or an emergency medical services practitioner OR that the individual completed the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s online course, “Medication Administration Principles,” and passed the assessment.

AND

Health Coordinators must submit documentation of current certification by the American Red Cross or American Heart Association in First-Aid, basic CPR and AED. 

More information can be found on the Health Coordinator Resources webpage.    

Health Forms

• 4-H Youth Health Form – (available in English and Spanish) This form is REQUIRED for youth participating in overnight 4-H programs and/or activities. This includes the camp health form. This is the same information that is collected through the Health Form in 4-H Online.
• Youth Event Health Form Update/Changes – (available in English and Spanish) All youth need to bring this form with them to the registration or bus-boarding site and give it to the chaperone. If there are no changes, please indicate where requested.
• Adult Health Form – This form is RECOMMENDED for adult participants at overnight programs. It is required for overnight camping programs. 

Other important information about Health Forms:

• The official UW-Madison Health Form has been reviewed and approved by UW-Madison Legal Counsel and the Office of Risk Management. No other health forms are to be used. 
• Health forms for adults are recommended but not required. 
• Youth participants that are 18 years and older can sign their own Health Form. 
• Authorized facsimile or scanned signatures are acceptable.

To reduce the risk of misconduct in electronic communications between adults and minors involved in 4-H programming, all such communications must remain professional and be limited to information related to program activities. This applies to all adults who are not related to the youth participants.

Authorized Custodians (Extension Educators and Specialists) and Authorized Assistant Custodians (Extension Volunteers) must include parents/guardians, program staff, multiple youth, or another authorized adult when communicating electronically with youth participants about Extension programming.

4-H club and group webpages that are program-focused may be used for appropriate interactions between Authorized Assistant Custodians and youth participants.

Brief calls, texts, or other communications from Authorized Custodians or Authorized Assistant Custodians to youth participants are permitted for emergencies, confirming locations, or handling logistical matters related to Extension programming.

Consent requirements by age:

• Youth under age 13: Written parental consent is required before electronic communication. This consent may be obtained electronically (e.g., via email) and must be documented and retained.
• Youth age 13 and older: Parents/guardians must be notified of the intent to communicate electronically, which may also be done via email. Parents/guardians may submit a written request to prevent direct electronic communication with their child. If no such request is made, consent is considered implied.

Any request from a parent/guardian or youth to restrict or stop electronic communication must be honored.

Note: All electronic communications are subject to the Wisconsin 4-H Code of Conduct.

Extension Educators, Associate Educators, and county-based staff who have an active wisc.edu account may use Google tools (such as Google Forms) to collect registration information for youth and adult programs but only when specific requirements are met. UW Madison directs units on how to handle sensitive data following University of Wisconsin System Administrative Policy 1031. 

First, the form must be created using your official wisc.edu Google account. This ensures that the data collected is stored within the university’s secure environment. Second, access to edit the survey and view its responses must be restricted – neither the form nor its responses may be shared with individuals who do not have a wisc.edu account. 

The only exception is that some participant information may be shared with volunteers under the direct supervision of Extension Staff when it is necessary for effective program delivery. In these cases, only a minimal, purpose-specific data set should be provided, and it should be maintained separately from the full registration record (i.e. data can be shared, google sheet where the results are collected cannot be shared). Sensitive information such as date of birth or similar data should not be shared with volunteers. 

In addition, UW System policy limits the type of information that may be collected through these forms. Only the following data categories are permitted:

• Participant’s full name and preferred name
• Parent(s) or guardian(s) name(s), if applicable
• Date of birth
• Grade
• Physical address
• Mailing address (if different)
• Phone number
• Email address
• Dietary Requests

Programs may also include additional questions when they are clearly relevant to participation or logistics. For example, it may be appropriate to collect information such as T-shirt size, activity preferences (e.g., ranking options), or emergency contact details beyond a parent or guardian. Any additional data collected should be limited to what is reasonably necessary and aligned with programmatic needs. 

IMPORTANT: No additional sensitive or restricted information should be requested unless explicitly authorized under university policy. Not every item needs to be collected. Consider which data is truly required for your program and only ask for what is needed. 

Demographic Information – Demographic information for creating participation records should not be collected alongside personally identifiable information within the registration form. 

Accommodation Requests – If participants require accommodations to fully engage in a program, they should not submit those details through the Google registration form. Instead, include a statement directing individuals to contact the program Educator directly to discuss their needs. For example:

“If you need an accommodation to participate in this program, please contact the Educator listed in the program information.”

For further details on what types of data are appropriate to collect and how they are classified, consult the  Data Classification Examples | UW Policies resource available through University of Wisconsin System Policies. 

Note: This policy does not apply to 4-H Clubs and Groups as they are not UW-Madison entities. However, 4-H Clubs and Groups are encouraged to follow the same data collection procedures listed above.

Wisconsin 4-H Tip Sheet: Preventing the Spread of Illness and Disease