Before an Outdoor Education Activity

The term “risk management” is often heard when discussing how to maximize group safety during activities that take place either on or off the school site. Risk management is a proactive approach used to create and sustain a culture of safety-mindedness to reduce the risk of injuries by focusing on safe practices. These practices include identifying the risks, having procedures in place to minimize or eliminate the risks, and implementing these procedures to maximize the safety of students during outdoor education activities. (Paragraph : Goodman, S., McGregor, I., 1993)

These sample guiding questions may be used with students to start a conversation about creating a culture of safety-mindedness. Through these conversations, students learn to identify potential risks and learn about their roles and responsibilities in managing possible risks to safely participate in outdoor education activities. Consider adapting the questions to meet the needs and language level of the learners.

Teacher Prompt: The word “culture” means a way of doing things. We want to build a culture of safety-mindedness to keep ourselves and others safe while participating in outdoor education activities. We can do this by thinking about some of the risks (dangers) we might encounter in an activity and then decide on the rules and procedures we will follow to reduce or eliminate those risks.

• What does the word, “risk” mean to you?
• What safety risks might you encounter during our outdoor education activity?
• What are some possible risks related to “x”? (define the activity)
• What can you do to reduce these risks?
• What can you do before the activity to prepare yourself to safely participate in the activity?
• What can you do to keep yourself safe while participating in this activity?
• What can you do to help keep others safe while participating in this activity?
• What might be the result if someone doesn’t follow the established safety practices?
• How can we cooperate as a whole group to maximize the safety of everyone participating in the activity?
• What might be the outcome of not participating in this activity?

Provide students with one of the following scenarios:

Primary: You and three classmates are gathering materials in a local park to build natural shelters. Your teacher has established very specific boundaries but you know that just a little further into the forest there are some really great sticks for shelter building.

Junior: You and your classmates are travelling as a class group from the school to the local marsh for a hike. The marsh is two blocks away from the school and you have to cross two busy intersections to get there. The marsh is surrounded by tall grasses and has approximately 1 metre of water in the center. There isn’t a clear shoreline, so it is hard to tell where the solid ground ends and the water starts.

Intermediate: You are spending the day at your local conservation area where you and your group of friends will be outside all day doing group activities, hikes, and interpretation activities. Some of the activities have you doing small group activities on your own and reporting back to the monitor. The weather is very hot with no clouds or wind, and thunderstorms are very probable later in the afternoon.

Have students identify some of the possible risks and identify some safety rules and procedures that the group can follow to minimize or eliminate the risks.

Goodman, S., McGregor, I. (1993). Legal Liability and Risk Management. A Resource Manual for Professionals and Students in the Sport, Recreational and Leisure Fields, p.8. Toronto, Canada.