Safety on Youth Trips
SAFETY ON YOUTH TRIPS
Currently there is no binding legislation for travel companies offering adventure activities outside the United Kingdom. It is, to a large extent, a voluntary engagement of trust between the provider (us) and the consumer (school or group). This is because health and safety standards in the UK cannot be adhered to in a foreign country where a) those standards are below that of the UK, and b) where foreign country laws apply.
However there is a British Standard 8848 which applies to overseas expeditions, field and school trips, and there is a rigorous independent examination for all audited participants, as well as a voluntary adherence to the standard. Adventure Alternative was assessed successfully and now voluntarily adheres to the standards of BS8848.
There is also the Learning outside the Classroom quality badge, or LoTC, which provides a framework for health and safety, as well as educational provision, for all types of trips including overseas expeditions.
Both the BS8848 and the LoTC badge are marks of quality and competence and integrity. Neither are mandatory for travel companies or charities to have, but they both help when choosing external providers and potentially for avoiding paperwork when it comes to risk assessment. Adventure Alternative chooses to follow the BS8848 ‘model’ and can provide all of the necessary paperwork to demonstrate proper due diligence.
Experience and longevity ‘in the field’ are also both worth taking into account. There are many providers out there, and choosing one with both of these benefits may have clear benefits.
Adventure Alternative also abides by the UK Package Travel Regulations regarding liability on holidays and our responsibility to all clients, which is mandatory for all companies providing a travel ‘package’. Fundamentally the regulations are about financial accountability and regulatory protection for the consumer. We also abide by the relevant sections of the Children and Families Act 2014, in particular part 5 relating to the welfare of children.
At Adventure Alternative we want to show that we take the issues of safety and professionalism seriously. Below we have identified the relevant clauses from the UK Outdoor Education Legislation that are pertinent to the youth expeditions that we offer. We make the commitment to abide by those principles and to our best abilities in a developing country.
The person ‘in loco parentis’ stands in the place of the parent and owes a duty of care to the child equal to the duty of care owed by a reasonable parent; that is a careful parent.
Every UK staff member is fully briefed about his and her level of accountability to all youth members of our expeditions, and they have all had more than 5 years experience of working with young people and have DBS checks.
The legislation introduces a licensing scheme, the aim of which is ‘to give assurance that good safety management practice is being followed so that young people can continue to have opportunities to experience exciting and stimulating activities outdoors while not being exposed to avoidable risks of death and disabling injury.’
Adventure Alternative takes this as a central pillar of our corporate promise to schools and parents. We consider it our duty to conform to all the correct elements of leadership and instruction that we consider necessary to run our youth trips abroad, and to operate the highest standards of competence and responsibility.
We maintain dynamic risk assessments on all our locations and activities, and we operate a safety management system which applies equally to all of our suppliers. We employ qualified and/or very experienced staff for all of our trips which involve trekking or climbing. We train our local guides in first aid and mountain travel, and our western staff have received both first aid training and Mountain Leader training. Our staff have all had in excess of ten years experience managing groups in-country and are involved in both the organisation and implementation of trips.
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