Apart from BSA‘s policies and procedures, other outdoor recreation organizations have their own standards of operation that govern how they act in the outdoors.
For instance, the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) has a “Manual of Accreditation Standards for Adventure Programs” intended to be adopted by its member organizations.
The Manual includes:
- standards applicable to the philosophical and education design of a program’s activities, demonstrating that the activities are experiential in nature, based on sound goals and objectives, are sequential, and conducted ethically;
- standards applicable to a program’s stability and soundness, including demonstrating that the activities are consistent with the organization’s mission;
- standards applicable to the organization’s operations and management, including training of staff, selecting venues, maintaining equipment, transporting participants, and evaluating the program continually from a risk management standpoint; and
- standards specific to different types of outdoor activities (such as hiking, camping, backpacking, climbing, biking, horseback riding, caving, flat and whitewater boating, swimming, sailing, scuba, sea kayaking).
Importantly, the Manual includes standards specific to risk management:
- hazard assessment and risk analysis is conducted for all activities
- written policies and procedures exist for each activity
- periodic internal and external risk management reviews occur
- prior to an activity, participants are informed of the nature and goals, requirements for physical conditioning and behavior, and consequences of not meeting those requirements
- prior to an activity, the participants are informed of inherent risks
- medical information is reviewed prior to an activity
- appropriate staff to participant ratios are employed
- a lost person protocol exists
- a field emergency action plan exists
- specific first aid or wilderness medicine practices are available
- a policy for the administration and securing of medications exists
- participants are prepared for their role in injury prevention and emergency response
- appropriate first aid, emergency, and rescue equipment is available
AEE‘s standards, and the outdoor activities to which they apply, are generally consistent with, and mirror, BSA‘s policies and standards as set for in the Guide to Safe Scouting, as well as BSA‘s on-line training modules directed to specific outdoor activities such as swimming, boating, backpacking, climbing, etc..
However, volunteer leaders would be wise to consider adopting AEE‘s risk management standards to the extent not otherwise specifically covered by BSA‘s policies and procedures.
Safe Scouting!