Photographer: Christian Botella
Risk Management & Outdoor Safety
Resources to help outdoor professionals manage risk in the outdoors
Risk is the potential of losing something of value. Values (such as physical health, social status, emotional well being or financial wealth) can be gained or lost when taking risk resulting from a given action, activity and/or inaction, foreseen or unforeseen. Risk can also be defined as the intentional interaction with uncertainty. Uncertainty is a potential, unpredictable, unmeasurable and uncontrollable outcome, risk is a consequence of action taken in spite of uncertainty.
Risk perception is the subjective judgment people make about the severity and/or probability of a risk, and may vary person to person. Any human endeavor carries some risk, but some are much riskier than others.
Source: Wikipedia
Adventure without risk is Disneyland (Doug Coupland)
Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian
Protects the rights, interests and well-being of children and young people in Queensland
Management of Outdoor Activities for Severe Weather Conditions
information and commonly agreed procedures for planning and responding to severe weather in the outdoors that involve led activities with dependent participants. The nature and intensity of severe weather can vary across Australia and local resources should be consulted when conducting activities in all parts of Australia.
Source: Outdoors Victoria
Developing a sun protection policy for sporting groups
A SAMPLE SUN PROTECTION POLICY FOR WORKPLACES
Source: Cancer Council
Related Articles
Building a Risk Management Machine
by Rick Curtis, 2003
The first thing to say is that I think we are bogged down in the concept of Risk Management. Part of our problem as an industry is that we are, I think, confused about what risk is. We have so many different definitions of risk that we use interchangeably that the word ceases to have much meaning. I think our approach of looking at risk is too simplistic for our industry. I think the reason for that is that we have imported other models from other industries, like insurance and patching it on our own. As a result, we have missed some things. As I said, these ideas aren’t necessarily new, but they may offer a new synthesis of various approaches that have been used before. What we are going to work on today is building what I call a Risk Management Machine.
Risk Management for Organizations: Keeping the Ship Afloat
by Preston Cline and Rick Curtis, 2003
The concept of risk management is one that has to encompass the whole of your program, from the first day of planning a new activity through the last piece of gear that is put away when the trip is over. It is such a huge task and involves so many different players in your organization that it’s often hard to make sure that all the jobs get done and done well. Our goal is to give you a framework to operate from that will help you both vision and envision how risk management permeates your organization.
Can We Still Ethically Adventure?
A philosophical look at Adventure in NZ
By Mark Jones, 2003
So why is adventure important anyway?
“The civilised society exhibits five crucial traits; art, peace, beauty, truth and adventure; without adventure civilisation is in full decay”
Alfred Whitehead, the noted Cambridgshire philosopher, articulates a fundamental truth about the value of adventure to society …
Is it possible to compare the risk on the rugby field to climbing a mountain?
You take a risk every time you run out on the field, hop on your bike, or tie your tramping boots.
Overall, the risk of serious injury or death from sport and recreation is extremely low.
But there’s almost always some risk.
Defining the world’s sport and recreation in terms of danger levels is not an easy task, mainly because comparing, say, motor sport with tramping, presents problems.
So, there are a few things to consider first. Any team sport with a ball, anything with horses, or water, and any sport involving a vehicle, runs a risk of injury or death. That’s part of the attraction of taking part and playing.
How to turn risk and uncertainty into opportunity and innovation
What we know about risk?
Risk and uncertainty are forces that are part of everyday life. Consider the painter propping up a ladder to paint the side of a house: once the ladder has been spread open and placed in the right position, the painter will give it a good shake from side to side.
Steven Bowman
Strategic Planning and Governance Consultant
Useful Info on the QORF site
Risk Management & Outdoor Safety Publications
External Links
- Product Safety Australia
- Risk Management (Wikipedia)
- British Incident Reports
- PACI Collection of Risk and Incident Related Articles and Reports
- ISO 31000:2009 Risk management - Principles and guidelines
- Curriculum Activity Risk Management Guidelines
- Risk Management and Outdoor Education: (Project Nature-Ed)
- Outdoor Safety Institute

