Real Adventure Recreation Tragedy, Outdoor Adventure Risk Management - Coursework Example

Risk Management (Course) (Name) (Instructor’s name) (Date) Introduction Risk management as far as the issue of outdoor adventure is involved is very important. This is because some of the risks cannot be predicted and so the participants must be fully equipped to deal with any risk that may arise during such moments. This paper entails two parts. The first part entails a discussion on a research involving a real adventure of a recreation tragedy while the second session entails the management of some outdoor adventure risk management. The paper focuses in detail on the two areas of recreation adventure management. It draws together the so many aspects from the researched areas in the literatures combined with some sessions in class as well as the class trips involved. There are also some aspects of comments from the media as well as some personal experiences. Real adventure recreation tragedy It has not been easy for the researchers to come up with a real estimate of the percentage or the probability of people being involved in outdoor tragedy during education adventures programs. It should be noted that there is great evidence that people are usually and even most often involved in such tragedies depending on the outdoor activity involved, the organization involved, the participants, the instructors and the environment. Some of the media records have reported that such injuries and tragedies occurs less often and due to that, many people have taken for granted the responsibility of taking caution against such effects (Priest & Gass, 2005). This is why some of the schools and colleges even though their students are always involved in the outdoor activities, do not have a department to deal with the risks that may be involved. The lowest fatality statistics was reported in the project adventure done for twenty years for safety which stated that its occurrence is approximately four for every million hours. This is the same as the aspect of working in insurance and real estate (Uitenbroek, 1996). The highest degree of risks is associated with the expedition which is mainly in the outdoor activities and the wilderness experiences but the rate is very low as compared to the school activities like the sports, physical education. The rate has been minimized since the introduction of the outdoor formal education but this does not mean it has been completely eradicated. The professionals in the organization of the outdoor education activities have not been able to weigh and come up with the solution on how to eliminate the risks. This is evident by the experience we encountered on a class outdoor activity recently in Australia. A risk refers to the probability of losing a very valuable resource to a person or organization. Two months ago the school had organized an outdoor adventure whereby all of the students were to be involved. We were basically meant to have a visit in one of the beach in Australia. As usual we were all ready and especially due to the fact that we were going to the beach, it was obvious many of us planned to swim and sail in the ocean. In such time due to the great excitement people have, the issue of risk management is least considered. The activity was to take a whole week since we needed to study some aspects of aquatic life. We have always known that there are some of the risks which are inherent as far as people are concerned like the lightening strike or even contracting an illness. Thus, they may even be uncontrollable depending on some personal locus of control (Thomas, 2003). One of the mistakes we did during that activity was taking the wrong risk because we did not consider very well the risk that could be involved on the ocean. We had a challenge which was to overcome any fear and have an outdoor class activity which was to help us to learn practically on aquatic life. This meant that we were to be involved in diving and swimming. On arrival all was well. The first day was set aside for orientation. This is whereby we were introduced to the areas where we were to visit and the parts of the ocean we were allowed to explore all of the personal protective equipments we were to use and finally the rescue team. Rules were also stipulated such as; it was not acceptable for any person to dive into ocean on their own. The rule was that at least we needed to be in a group of five so that incase of anything we can be able to help each other to come out of a situation. The first three days ended without any incident. All was going well in the fourth day when all over sudden the weather changed. It was exactly at midday and we were all in different places. I was not personally on the water but I was getting ready with four of my classmates to get in when the tides began rising and the ocean was seriously roaring (Stark, 2001). It was already scarily because the situation was helter scepter. People were running for their lives. Within a few minutes the situation was serious because the waves were very strong in the ocean. It is very unfortunate that even the weather forecast had not predicted that kind of happening on that day or even on the near future. The situation was even overwhelming to the rescue team who could not at that moment decide which part of the sea they would concentrate to save people. People were already beginning to get swept away by the great waves in the ocean and the beach was filled up with screams as some people run for their lives and others fought for their lives. The situation favored no one since the old and the young suffered the same fate. At that juncture the water was approaching the buildings at the beach. The place was full of panic. This lasted for five good hours and after the weather and the waves subsided, two hundred dead bodies including ten of our students were recorded. The total number of the greatly injured was one hundred but were taken to the hospital for treatment. It was a very bad outdoor tragedy for us which taught us a lesson. Outdoor adventure risk management Risk management is a very important aspect of every outdoor activity. This means that before any outdoor activity is planned then the planners or management or rather the organizers should take the initiative of trying to find out any risks that may be involved and then cater for them through the ways of management. In other words there should be the practice of disaster preparedness (Hogan, 2002). The risk management is involved by more than one part. There is a role that the parents have to play for their children like buying them some personal protective equipment, the school management by ensuring what they need to do for the safety of their students is done and finally the management of the place that the school has intentions of visiting. The first step in outdoor risk management is the identification of the place and the activity that the participant will be involved in. This is because of the fact that the place or the location determined some kind of risks that may be involved. A very good example is the difference in terms of the risks involved in mountaineering and diving or sailing. First of all these are two very different activities which can only be found in different places. The risks involved in the mountaineering are falling from the cliffs, hypothermia due to cold and suffocation if one cannot acclimatize to the oxygen level (Hogan, 2002). On the other hand some of the risks involved in the sailing include injuries caused by the sea animals, death, wave effects and drowning. This means that precautions is the management will be dependent on the place to be visited and the activity that needs to be taken as well as the probability of risk occurrence. The organizers of the events should take a pre-visit to the site so that they can be able to figure out all the risks that the participants may be involved in. Also there is a need for reviewing the record so that the probability o the risks can be able to be determined before the event is carried out. It is the responsibility of the site management to ensure the site has a regular environmental inspection to ensure all the risks are well taken care of. In addition, the issue of risk assessment will help the management to be able to monitor the probability of risks occurrence. Some outdoor activities like ice skating which can have the risk of land slides or even hiking on the mountains or valley where there is a risk of eruption. Through regular monitoring and inspection the management will ensure that all the regulations are adhered to hence due to a great level of compliance then the risks will be minimized or completely avoided. The site management is also responsible for providing the participants with the necessary equipments needed for them before they are involved in the activities (Brackenreg, 1997). A good example is the beach activities. The rescue team must ensure that the people involved in the water activities have their personal protective equipment in their bodies and that incase of any risk they are saved. There should always be a manual or a guideline on the use of the equipment or rather of the site. This is to ensure the participants are well vast with the environment of the place. Another very important aspect of risk management is training or educating the participants. Risks are all over but it is very hard for anyone to be sure of safety. This means that before the participants are released to be involved in the activity must be taken through a training explaining to them some of the risks that are they are likely to be involve in. some of the things they are trained on are how to use some of the equipments provided for their own safety, how to flee from danger in case there arises as well as the available emergency rescue roots that are provided by the management of the site. Another very important factor of consideration is the issue of regulations that are laid down by the site management. The participants must be enlightened on all of the regulations as well as the reasons as to why they have been put down as far as their safety is concerned. The management of the site must have a very well trained tour guides, rescue team and other employees in the locality. This will ensure that the lives of the participants is in the hands of professionals who really know their responsibility and their role as far as the risks involved in the place are concerned (Brookes, 2003). They are also in a position to respond very quickly to any impending danger in the place, a factor that is very important in reducing the damage that may be caused by a risk. This can be done through the management organizing some sessions to test the efficiency and effectiveness of their skills before any risk occurs. During these routine tests, the employees are presented with different and possible situations and then asked to deal with them. It is also very important to note that with the changes in the climate there are possibilities of more dangers and risks occurrence and so the training for the employees should be intensified to ensure that they are very well equipped to deal with any risks that may occur. It is also very important to involve legislations, policies and laws that are involved in risk management. Some of these involve the management of the site while others are involved in taking care of the life and safety of the participants (Brackenreg, 1999). The most important factor as far as this is concerned is for everyone to take responsibility in ensuring the laws and the regulations are adhered to. Some of the laws include the environment protection to ensure some of the risks do not occur; there is also the issue of life safety whereby the site management should prioritize the issue of human and property safety. There is also the aspect of personal responsibility. All the people involved in the outdoor activities must be informed that their greatest responsibility is to take care of their safety and to ensure that in all that they do, they should ensure they avoid any impeding risks within the site as well as be on the look out to ensure also the lives of other people is put at risk due to the activities they may be involved in. Conclusion One of the ways in which risk management can be achieved in any organization is through environmental sustainability. In the millennium development goal, the seventh goal refers to ensuring of environmental sustainability. This means that, every person, institution; organization and country should take the issue of environmental sustainability very seriously. There should be measures put in place to ensure the environment is protected against any form of pollution which in turn can pose danger to the people. Also it should be noted that everyone must be involved in the process of risk management no matter who they are and what they are involved in which means all the people must be enlightened about the dangers that are likely to affect them in the process of being involved in an outdoor activity. References Brackenreg, M. (1997). Horizons, 14(1), 10-15. Brackenreg, M. (1999). Learning from our mistakes - Before it’s too late. Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 3(2). Brookes, A. (2003). Outdoor education fatalities in Australia 1960-2002. Part 2. Contributing circumstances: Supervision, first Aid, and rescue.  Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 7(2). Hogan, R. (2002). The crux of risk management in outdoor programs - minimizing the possibility of death and disabling injury. Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 6(2) pp. 71-79. Priest, S., & Gass, M. (2005). Effective leadership in adventure programming (2nd Ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Stark, P. (2001). Last breath: Cautionary tales from the limits of human endurance.  Australia: Ballantine. Thomas, G. (2003). Risk in outdoor education [Powerpoint lecture; .pdf].  Department of Outdoor Education & Nature Tourism, Latrobe University, Australia. Uitenbroek, D. G. (1996). Sports, exercise, and other causes of injuries: Results of a population survey. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 67(4), 380-385. Read More