In August of 2018 a 16 year old member of Scouts UK fell 200 feet to his death while hiking along the edge of the Great Orme, a 700 ft. high peninsula on the north coast of Wales, pictured below. His group included 9 scouts and 3 adult leaders. The scout and two of his friends split off from the rest of the group, and the scout perished while attempting to descend on a path along the edge of the peninsula. He tragically slipped and fell to his death.
The coroner in his report of February 7, 2020 raised multiple issues which he believed contributed to this incident:
- The arranging of the trip did not adhere to the Scout Association’s own safety policies.
- Such policies were not adequately understood at the grass roots level.
- Safety policies exist but are not implemented.
- There was no written risk assessment.
- There was no dynamic risk assessment.
- There is not a full understanding of what a risk assessment is.
- There is not a full understanding of when to do written or dynamic risk assessments.
- There was no meaningful discussion between the scout leaders as to the plan for the trip on the Orme.
- The leaders did not have a participant list nor list of phone numbers for the boys.
- There was no route planned for the Orme trip.
- No instruction or briefing was given to the boys.
- Each of the 3 leaders assumed that the 3 boys were with one of the leaders when in fact they were not. They were on their own.
- There was no effective leadership for the group.
Clearly, while not so stated by the coroner, the main contributor to the tragedy was alleged to be the lack of competent supervision of the activity, for failing to address the points raised by the coroner.
There have been incidents with BSA Scouts falling from heights with respect to which more than a few of the above issues could also apply. Not to mention outdoor activities in general, where risk assessments were lacking, safety policies ignored, together with lack of communication among adult leaders, resulting in unfortunate incidents.
The practice of competent risk management in outdoor Scouting activities is a critical aspect of the planning and conduct of the activity. Learn the principles of risk management in the outdoors, particularly with youth, and put them into practice!