An holistic view of the riskmanagement of a given activity needsto be informed by the benefits to begained from participating in the activity,not just the hazards and risks. It istherefore a good starting point for anyrisk assessment to identify the targetedbenefits as early as possible in theprocess… Young people encounteringrisk sensibly managed are presentedwith an unrivalled learning opportunityand exposure to well managed riskhelps children learn important life skills,including how to manage risks forthemselves. Responding to this needmay well be one of the fundamentalaims of many areas of LearningOutside the Classroom. It follows thatsuch aims should be encouraged,rather than avoided.

Legal contextWhat does the law state about safety on visits andadventurous activities? The short answer is perhapssurprisingly straightforward. It can be captured in a singleword: reasonableness. Those organising and providingactivities outside the classroom are expected to takereasonable steps to ensure the safety of the children andyoung people taking part. The notion of reasonableness iscentral to the key legislation: the Health and Safety at Worketc Act 1974 and the Occupiers’ Liability Acts 1957 and1984. Such materials should be helpful andsupportive. However, guidance can onlygo so far, and can never deal fully withall the possible circumstances andsituations that may arise on a visit orduring an activity. Indeed too muchguidance, at too great a level of detail,can be counterproductive, because itcan reinforce a distorted approach torisk management that focuses ontechnical compliance rather than criticalthinking and proactive problem solving.According to Marcus Bailie, Head ofInspection at the Adventure ActivitiesLicensing Service, when things gowrong, the primary questions posed inany resulting inquiry, whether conductedinternally or by the courts or regulators,are ‘what happened on the day?’ and‘was it reasonable?’. Published by the English Outdoor Council,an umbrella body of the principalrepresentative organisations in the field ofoutdoor education, in association with theOutdoor Education Advisers’ Panel, whichcomprises nominated representatives ofChief Officers of Local Authorities inEngland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Within education and children’s services,there is growing awareness of the valuefor children of learning experiences thattake place outside the classroom. It is widely believed that the teachingunion the NASUWT advises itsmembers not to lead or take part ineducational visits. In fact, NASUWTguidance does not state this (though itdoes advise members to think carefullybefore becoming involved). The unionhas given its formal support to theLearning Outside the ClassroomManifesto.

Nothing Ventured is the incredible and thrilling novel by the master storyteller and bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer. The benefits of outdoor education arefar too important to forfeit, and by faroutweigh the risks of an accidentoccurring. If teachers follow recognizedsafety procedures and guidance theyhave nothing to fear from the law. The role of guidanceLocal authorities and employers should provide guidanceon how risks and benefits should be assessed and managedin different circumstances, including situations whereexternal agencies such as adventurous activity providersare used. Department for Education and Skills(2001) Health and Safety:Responsibilities and Powers (statutoryguidance note DfES/0803/2001) Even when claims are made againstorganisations, they can often besuccessfully defended. A number oflocal authorities, includingWolverhampton Metropolitan BoroughCouncil, take a robust, principledapproach to liability claims. Where theCouncil believes it is at fault, claims aresettled. But where it does not, claims arecontested, if necessary in the courts.This approach benefits from closeliaison between the Council’s corporaterisk managers and children’s services (inparticular, the play section). To supportthis, a corporate policy framework hasbeen adopted that explicitly sets out abalanced approach to risks and benefits.In the same way the Scouts Association,which has its own in-house insurance,contests all claims where it believes it isnot at fault. Out of around 50 or 60 suchclaims a year, only around six end up incourt, and in most of these the claimsare turned down.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE)supports over 275,000 people aged14-24 in a programme that, accordingto the charity, “aims to instil a spirit ofadventure, and have a lasting impacton young people’s behaviours, skillsand life chances”. A key part of itsprogramme is for participants to carryout an unaccompanied expedition thatmust be completed through theparticipants’ own physical efforts. TheDofE’s Expedition Handbook is clearthat “adventure and discovery alwaysinvolve some measure of risk”, thatexpeditions should involve respondingto a challenge, and that one of thebenefits of doing an expedition is thatparticipants learn to manage risk.While the initial level of challenge isdetermined by the team, “the weatherand the demanding surroundings inwhich the expedition takes placealways necessitates the teamresponding to a series of unforeseenchallenges.” The Expedition Guide alsostates that, of all the qualities entailedin the safety and well-being ofparticipants doing DofE expeditions,“that of sound judgement is the mostimportant. Sound judgement, alongwith responsibility and maturity, arisesfrom effective training coupled withprogressive and varied experience overa period of time. It cannot developunless there are opportunities toexercise judgement.” Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Enable Scotland is a charity thatcampaigns for a better life for childrenand adults with learning disabilities andsupports them and their families to live,work and take part in their communities.One service it offers is to provideactivities and visits for children andyoung people, including adventurousand outdoor activities. In response toworries that the activity planning wasbecoming too cautious and overlyinfluenced by the impetus to removerisk, the charity developed a risk-benefit assessment form that gatherskey information about the benefits forparticipants. The form asks about thebenefits to the person of taking part,and how would the person feel ifprevented from taking part. The formalso asks for information on whatcould go wrong – but the nextquestion is ‘what could be done to geta positive outcome?’ Professional awareness of risk-benefitassessment has grown considerablybecause of work on playground safety.However, it has long been implicit in theethos and goals of agencies such asthose providing adventurous andoutdoor activities, and has beenelaborated theoretically in the form of a‘triangle of risk’ (benefits, hazards andcontrol measures). The University ofCentral Lancashire, which providesdegree courses for outdoorprofessionals, recognises that studentshave to encounter risks if they areto become well-equipped to supportexperiential learning once they havequalified. Hence it plans to introducerisk-benefit assessment into its riskmanagement systems. The approach isalso being put into action elsewhere.