Tour group admits errors over riverboarding death

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Title – Tour group admits errors over riverboarding death
Source – The Times
Date – 25th August 2009

This is a story we first commented on in April 2008:

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Family blames daughter’s death on the pursuit of most extreme sports

This conclusion of the associated court case shows the guilt accepted by the company involved and serves as a reminder that ‘extreme sports’ are not without their dangers. The very concept is to get the adrenaline going and to ‘face our fears’ and there are many excellent companies who allow you to do this in the relative risk managed safety.

However where there are good companies there are also inevitably less good ones. In such competitive businesses, standards are often reflected in the prices charged in the battle to win customers. Independent travellers are often guided by price in their choices, in an attempt to try and squeeze the most out of a tight budget, but price alone should never be the only factor.

Let me give an example from my own experience.

As a very keen diver many of the places I visit offer more than one dive operator to choose from. Out of habit I effectively risk assess them all before I choose. ‘Risk assessing’ often sounds like a dull, formal, boring and over cautious approach, but we are not talking about boring forms or meetings with health and safety managers, rather just a sensible approach to making the right choices. The fact is during this process I also find out more about where each company dives, what their approach is to protecting their environments and which dive masters / crew seem the nicest; all very important in making the most out of what is an expensive activity.

My risk assessment roughly looks at the following factors:

· How clean, tidy and organised is the dive shop?
· How well maintained does the hire equipment look (even if I am using my own equipment)?
· How new does the equipment look (are the BCD’s faded by the sun, ripped, ragged etc)
· How do the staff approach my enquiry (do they ask to see my diving qualification, log book or enquire about my level of experience)?
· What type of boat do they use and what condition is it in?
· What are their emergency procedures?
· How knowledgeable are staff about the local area / environment; are they going to make my dive more interesting or just functional?
· What experience do the Dive Masters / Instructors have, who registers the dive centre and to what grade?
· I will ask other divers who have already dived for a recommendation or their experiences?

This seems like a long list and a hassle, but all this can be achieved through casual conversation when you visit the dive shop and while you are checking out the area. You will very quickly find which dive operation you are most comfortable with and which one is likely to give you the best experience. Like many ‘extreme sports’ safety must be at the top of your list of concerns when you are planning a dive; otherwise you’ll be uncomfortable and will not enjoy the experience…. And what is the point of that?

You may not be an expert, but common sense and a few well placed questions can go a long way to reducing risk. The behaviour, safety equipment, approach to safety and making that extra effort to make your experience one to remember, will certainly be a first step to avoiding accidents.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety, alongside sessions on Travel Health, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

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