A leader’s duty of care to the Scouts includes attempting to understand those risks that are “reasonably foreseeable”, and then either accepting the consequences of those risks, mitigating the effect of the risks by making changes to the activity, or avoiding the potential risks altogether.
This concept is not limited to outdoor activities, as demonstrated by this May, 2016 NTSB quote directed to questions regarding the operation of the Washington, D.C. subway system: “The incident at issue resulted from the transit agency’s ineffective inspection and maintenance practices, which persisted as a result of the failure to proactively assess and mitigate foreseeable risk.”
But, how does an adult leader know what risks are “reasonably foreseeable”? Certainly, experience counts. And, if that experience is related to the environment in which the activity takes place, so much the better!
In the end, however, the determination of what risks may be “reasonably foreseeable” to one participant may not be “reasonably foreseeable” to another participant, due to differing levels of skill and experience.
Indeed, a determination of what risks are “reasonably foreseeable” depends on many factors, such that the determination will ultimately be:
- Activity – dependent;
- Participant – dependent;
- Experience – dependent;
- Environment – dependent;
- Knowledge – dependent; and
- Time – dependent (can change during the activity)
In other words, what is reasonably foreseeable today, may not be reasonably foreseeable tomorrow, or vice versa – or what may be reasonably foreseeable with one set of youth and adults, may not be so with another set of youth and adults – or, due to differing levels of experience with the activity, several adult leaders may have several views as to what is reasonably foreseeable.
In his book “Progressive Pioneering” (1964), the author John Thurman made the following observation: “No explorer or pioneer worthy of the name allows himself – and still less those he is responsible for – to be put in peril through encountering hazards and dangers which can, by training and through experience, be eliminated. The men who conquer mountains succeed because of their preparation and their absorption of the experience gleaned from the past.”
For an adult, this is where training and experience come into play, and if you have little of either, ask for help from someone who has both.