When attending field trips, you agree to:

1. Be reasonably on time.
2. Have all of your gear.
3. Sign in on the club’s sign-in sheet when you arrive.
4. Sign any forms required by the quarry — printed and signed ahead of time, if they were provided.
5. Listen to the Quarry Guide and your Tar Heel Gem & Mineral Club Field Trip Coordinator while on a trip.
6. Abide by any and all rules set forth by the quarry that we are visiting, including MSHA regulations.

The following gear is required when attending a quarry. No exceptions, no substitutions.

1. Serious safety violations could result in MSHA fines for the quarry. For this reason, serious safety violations could result in being banned from attending any future club field trips.
2. If you are asked 2 times to stop doing anything against the rules and are becoming a safety hazard, you will be asked to wait in your car until the end of the trip and/or not invited to attend future trips.
3. Stay at least 10 feet from any highwall that is 15 ft–20 ft high, and 15 feet from highwalls that are 20 feet or higher — unless a farther distance is stated by the field trip coordinator or quarry.
4. The start of the highwall to measure from is the part that sticks out the furthest, which is sometimes very high up and called an “overhang.” Keep in mind that the chance of falling rocks increases if there is water or ice involved.
5. Stay on the safe side of the berms and never cross to the other side.
6. Do not climb any large rock piles. On small piles, when it looks safe, it is okay to step a few feet from the ground and reach for something — so long as you are using common sense and being safe.
7. You must not go near any bodies of water bigger than puddles, even if they don’t look deep.
8. If you are using a hammer, make sure your safety glasses are in place — but also notify everyone around you that you will be hammering and verify that they all have their glasses on.

1. If you have any problems, go to the club’s Field Trip Coordinator and not the quarry guide. This includes needing to leave because of an urgent unavoidable matter, or if you need to use the bathroom and can’t wait.
2. If you sign up for a trip, you are signing up for the whole trip — not just part of it — so you need to stay for the whole time.
3. Bathrooms are usually available before we head down into the pit, so use them beforehand and avoid asking to go once we are in the pit. People have emergencies, and that is understandable, but they need to be just that… emergencies.
4. If you sign up for a trip, you need to show up for a trip.
5. If you sign up for a trip and need to cancel, please give as much notice as possible — and at least cancel before the “Sign Up / Cancel By” date (usually 24 hours to 1 week prior to the trip).
6. If there is a genuine emergency or urgency to cancel after the “Sign Up / Cancel By” date, contact the Field Trip Coordinator directly.
7. If you or a family member are feeling sick the night before a trip, and feel there might be even a chance you won’t make it, let the field trip coordinator know as soon as possible — do not wait to see if it gets better.
8. If you repeatedly sign up for trips and cancel at the last minute — or worse, not show up at all — you will not be invited to attend future field trips.

1. Club members are not permitted to contact (call, text, email, etc.) quarries or mines.
2. The only member who may contact quarries on behalf of the club, or as a Tar Heel Gem & Mineral Club member, is the club’s current designated Field Trip Coordinator. Calling a quarry and mentioning that you are a club member implies that you carry the club’s insurance if you visit — but you are only covered by the club’s insurance on a trip set up by the club’s current designated Field Trip Coordinator.

1. Show respect to the quarry and their representative(s), your club Field Trip Coordinator, and your fellow Tar Heel Club members.
2. You may bring a family member under the age of 18, from your membership, on trips where “Under 18” is allowed — and only when both you and they have been signed up.
3. You are required to bring all of the required equipment to any quarry, both for yourself and for anyone under 18 with you, and to wear all of the listed gear the entire time you are out of a vehicle (excluding the main office). Some quarries are okay with you hooking your safety glasses on your vest if you are only ground hunting (no hammers), but this is up to each individual quarry.
4. You are responsible for:
   1. that person;
   2. making sure that person is following the club and quarry rules;
   3. bringing all of their safety gear.

1. No videos are to be taken while at a quarry. Photos may be taken if the quarry is okay with it, but may not be posted online with any information that identifies the quarry.
2. If you post photos of what you found on a field trip, take them after you leave the quarry — photo metadata often includes GPS location — and do not post the name of the quarry or the location.
3. The Field Trip Coordinator may use appropriate judgement to take and choose photos for the Tar Heel Gem & Mineral website, but will leave off information about the quarry.
4. If you sell any specimens from trips, leave off the quarry information, including the town. You may include county information only.