Adventure Safety Accreditation
Recognition that an adventure, travel, experiential or outdoor program meets good practice risk management standards
An Indication of Quality Risk Management
Viristar provides a safety accreditation service for adventure, travel, experiential and outdoor programs. This accreditation is an impartial, trusted recognition of quality risk management. Adventure safety accreditation from Viristar indicates that an organization has met widely accepted industry standards of good safety practice.
The Accreditation Process
The accreditation process follows these five steps:
- Submit application for accreditation. Viristar reviews application upon receipt of information and application fee. If organization eligible for accreditation, Viristar sends additional materials and process begins.
- Complete Organizational Self-Evaluation. Organization submits information evidencing conformance with accreditation standards. Viristar reviews material.
- Site visit. Skilled, impartial Viristar accreditation reviewers conduct in-person review of organization, including facilities and operations, to confirm standards are met.
- Accreditation decision. Based on self-evaluation and site visit, Viristar makes and communicates accreditation decision to organization. Accredited organizations awarded certificate and badge.
- Activities during accreditation period. Accredited organization notifies Viristar of significant changes, submits Annual Report, pays annual accreditation fee, responds to any official complaints and, prior to accreditation expiry, commences re-accreditation process as appropriate.
For a full explanation of these steps, see the Accreditation Process Details page.
ACCREDITATION PROCESS DETAILS
Accreditation Standards
Viristar’s Adventure Safety accreditation standards establish good practice criteria for risk management of outdoor, adventure, travel and experiential programs. In order to gain accreditation, an organization must show evidence that it meets all standards applicable to its operations.
The standards are divided into 21 sections, as outlined below. Each section has one or more standards. Each standard describes what the requirement is and, depending on the standard, includes Elements of Performance that describe additional expectations, and detailed Notes providing context, examples, and explanatory detail.
Safety Management System
Leadership and Management
Activities and Program Areas
Staff
Equipment
Participants
Contractors
Transportation
Business Administration
Risk Transfer
Incident Management
Incident Reporting
Incident Review
Risk Management Committee
Medical Screening
Risk Management Review
Media Relations
Documentation
Accreditation
Systems-Based Safety
Continual Improvement
Accreditation Standards Manual
The Adventure Safety accreditation standards are documented in the Adventure Safety Accreditation Standards Manual.
The Accreditation Standards Manual provides over 100 pages of detail on the adventure safety accreditation standards, including explanations of each standard along with explanatory notes, suggestions, and good practice guidance.
The Accreditation Standards Manual is available for purchase online, in the form of a license to use the manual. The manual is provided electronically as a PDF document.
The price for the Accreditation Standards Manual license is USD 139.
BUY ACCREDITATION STANDARDS MANUALA license for the Accreditation Standards Manual is also provided, at no additional charge, to organizations who apply for accreditation and pay the initial application fee.
Benefits of Accreditation
Adventure Safety Accreditation by Viristar can provide numerous benefits. These benefits may include:
- Improves safety and quality
- Provides recognition of commitment to quality
- Gives competitive advantage, setting program apart from others in marketplace
- Confers enhanced credibility and trust
- Helps the public identify programs with demonstrated commitment to quality and safety
- Enhances staff recruitment, development and retention
- Strengthens stakeholder confidence in the quality and safety of services offered
- Offers valuable professional development for staff
- Shows evidence of commitment to continual improvement
- Boosts reputation and business sustainability of the sector
- Receives favorable reception from liability insurance providers
- Can reduce likelihood of potentially burdensome government regulation
- Provides a framework for organizational safety management
Accreditation Council
The Accreditation Council oversees the Adventure Accreditation process, votes on grant or deny accreditation status, and takes steps to ensure the quality and integrity of Viristar’s Adventure Accreditation scheme.
The Accreditation Council is engaged in evaluating and improving accreditation standards, and supporting applicants and accredited programs as they pursue and maintain accredited status.
Members of the Council have expertise in adventure programming and come from around the world.
learn more
Viristar’s Experience
Viristar staff have decades of experience with accreditation and audit systems.
Viristar has performed risk management reviews (safety audits) of outdoor, experiential, travel, and adventure organizations in multiple countries on multiple continents, using Viristar’s good practice standards as a benchmarking tool to assess performance.
Viristar’s Adventure Safety Accreditation Standards have been developed over many years and have been informed by feedback from adventure programs in Asia, Africa, the Americas, Oceania and Europe.
Government entities, corporations, associations, nonprofits and education institutions have relied on Viristar to provide impartial, high-quality evaluation of their adventure-based programs against industry good practice standards.
Limitations
The site visit can show that the organization being accredited appears to meet the standards during the time of the site visit; it cannot guarantee this is the case at all times in the future.
Accreditation is not a guarantee of safety, and does not mean that no incidents or loss will occur at an accredited entity. No accreditation scheme can eliminate the inherent risks of adventure, travel and outdoor experiences.
Viristar’s safety accreditation standards are not intended to impose a legal duty of care on an organization or a person which is not otherwise in existence in the setting in which the activities are organized and held.
Viristar’s Adventure Safety Accreditation is not intended and may not be used to circumvent any registration, licensure or permitting processes required to operate an outdoor, experiential, travel or adventure-based business.
Eligibility for Adventure Accreditation
- The organization provides adventure programming
- The organization has been in operation for at least three years
- The organization is a discrete entity, i.e. an entire organization, or an entity separate and distinct from any larger organization of which it may be a part
Eligibility to apply for accreditation does not imply that the organization will meet accreditation requirements.
Accreditation Fees
Fees for obtaining and maintaining accredited status include the following:
- Application fee
- Annual accreditation fee
- Site visit fee
- Late fees, if applicable
- Administrative fees, if applicable
The annual accreditation fee is based off of the gross annual revenue of the organization applying for accreditation.
Specialty Accreditation Referrals
In addition to providing safety accreditation, Viristar can also refer adventure, travel, experiential and outdoor programs to other bodies for activity-specific or other specialized accreditation, such as the following.
These accreditations typically cover topics such as governance, ethics, program management, activity procedures, and pedagogy. In many cases, accreditation is limited to only certain activities or jurisdictions.
Organizations interested in these accreditation options should carefully evaluate accreditation schemes of interest for suitability to their circumstances.
Experiential adventure
Association for Experiential Education
Adventuremark (UK)
Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) Quality Badge – Adventurous Activities (UK statutory education)
Mountain guiding
American Mountain Guides Association (USA)
Challenge Course operations
Association for Challenge Course Technology
Park and recreation
Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (USA)
Gap year
Gap Year Association
Summer camp
Alberta Camping Association (Canada)
Ontario Camps Association (Canada)
Association of Quebec Camps (Canada)
Camping Association of NS & PEI (Canada)
British Columbia Camps Association (Canada)
Saskatchewan Camps Association (Canada)
Manitoba Camping Association (Canada)
American Camp Association (USA)
Camp & Adventure Activity Accreditation, Quality Tourism Framework (Quality Tourism Australia) (Australia)
Outdoor behavioral healthcare, wilderness therapy
Association for Experiential Education in collaboration with Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council
Viristar can also provide guidance about approved auditors in locations in which there are statutory schemes for audit, registration or licensure of adventure activities. (These locations include, for example, Switzerland, New Zealand and the UK).
Frequently Asked Questions
Accreditation is formal recognition by an impartial, independent body that an entity has met recognized standards. The accreditation process involves evaluation, by a qualified third party, of an entity against established standards.
Definitions of these terms may vary depending on the context. However, the following meanings are widely agreed-upon.
Accreditation is recognition from a third-party conformity assessment body that an organization meets widely recognized good practice standards in its industry.
Certification, or qualification, or sometimes credentialing, refers to recognition that an individual person has obtained certain knowledge or skills through a course of training.
Statutory (legally required) registration and licensure refer to recognition by a government regulatory agency that an operation has met regulatory requirements.
Registration and licensure are provided by government regulators under various laws or regulations regarding certain legally regulated adventure activities.
Example include New Zealand (Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations), Switzerland (Federal Act on Mountain Guides and Organisers of other High-Risk Activities) and the UK (Adventure Activities Licensing Regulations).
Adventure, travel experiential and outdoor organizations in over 70 countries on six continents have trusted Viristar to provide critical safety guidance.
Viristar is recognized for deep expertise in good practice for adventure, travel, experiential and outdoor activities, and for expert knowledge in safety science, incident causation/prevention modelling, and analysis and evaluation systems.
Viristar has advised national and regional governments in Asia, Europe and the Americas on adventure and outdoor safety standards and auditing processes.
Viristar is known for being rigorous, strictly impartial, and conforming to the highest standards of ethics.
These qualities have helped make Viristar an internationally recognized, authoritative voice on adventure safety.
The accreditation process is rigorous, and can take months. For organizations with few staff and little documentation, the process could take years. The precise timeframe fundamentally depends on how much time the entity seeking accreditation takes until it is able to provide evidence that it meet standards.
Accreditation is not granted until an organization seeking accreditation has been determined to meet the standards.
Adventure Safety Accreditation is a voluntary process, and is not known to be required by government regulation.
Yes. Viristar’s conformity assessment scheme (system) is guided by the requirements of ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015—Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems—Part 1: Requirements. This is the global benchmark for how conformity assessment bodies administer the accreditation process.
The ISO 17021-compliant process is characterized by impartiality, competence, responsibility, openness, confidentiality, responsiveness to complaints, and a risk-based approach. Viristar’s approach incorporates these principles.
Viristar’s accreditation practice is also informed by ISO 17021’s standards regarding legal responsibility, management of impartiality, and liability and financing, as well as ISO 17021’s structural, resource, information, process and management system standards.
Yes. Adventure Safety Accreditation from Viristar indicates that an operator has met the standards of ISO 21101:2014 Adventure tourism — Safety management systems — Requirements.
ISO 21101 standards are built into the Adventure Safety Accreditation criteria.
Adventure Safety Accreditation, however, is also relevant for operators of educational travel, outdoor education, service learning and other non-tourism activities as well.
Testimonials
Learn More or Apply
For a response to specific questions regarding the accreditation process, contact us.
Begin the preliminary application process by clicking the button below.
BEGIN APPLICATION