Textbook

Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure

The acclaimed textbook Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure is available for purchase in paperback and eBook format.

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Your outdoor, experiential or travel program provides fun, personal growth, adventure. It changes lives. But are your safety systems up to standards? If something happens, are you prepared to respond?


Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure provides essential knowledge for any adventure or outdoor professional. Program managers, executives, volunteers and group leaders will learn critical approaches and strategies for successfully anticipating and addressing risks.

Packed with real-life stories, current research findings, and good practice guidance, Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: a Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure gives expert advice on:

  • Approaches to Risk Management
  • Standards
  • Legal Considerations
  • Safety Culture
  • Activities and Program Areas
  • Staff
  • Equipment
  • Participants
  • Subcontractors
  • Transportation
  • Business Administration
  • Risk Transfer
  • Incident Management
  • Incident Reporting
  • Incident Reviews
  • Risk Management Committee
  • Medical Screening
  • Risk Management Reviews
  • Media Relations
  • Documentation
  • Accreditation
  • Seeing Systems

Use the button below to download a 15-page sample of the book, including Contents, Preface, and Introduction.

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Price: ‎USD 59

Author: Jeff A. Baierlein
Publisher: ‎Viristar (March 21, 2019)
Sold by: Amazon

Language: English

Paperback
Length: 218 pages
Item Weight: ‎ .75 kg | 1.65 pounds
Dimensions: ‎ 21.6 x 1.4 x 28 cm | 8.5 x 0.54 x 11 inches
ISBN-10: 1733349111
ISBN-13: 978-1733349116
OCLC Number: 1273556703

eBook

The e-book edition, a Kindle e-book download, is available for virtually all devices, including Android, iPhone, tablets, Mac and PC, with the free Kindle app.

Features of this print replica edition include:

  • Notes and highlights
  • Search, copy and paste
  • Zoom and pan
  • Pop-out linked table-of-contents
  • Page numbers matching print edition

Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure is used in university classrooms, educational travel programs, adventure tourism operations, search and rescue, adventure centers, outdoor education and forest schools, camps, wilderness therapy programs, park and recreation settings, and more.

About the Author

Jeff Baierlein (he/him) is the director of the consultancy Viristar, providing safety, curriculum, and strategy services to outdoor, adventure, travel, and experiential programs worldwide.

Jeff began working as an outdoor and adventure professional in 1987.  He has over 1000 field days leading mountaineering, sailing, whitewater and flatwater canoeing, backpacking, whitewater and sea kayaking, rock climbing, canyoning and caving expeditions up to three months in length. 

Jeff is the former Executive Director of Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School and of the Boojum Institute for Experiential Education. He has worked as an EMT and on Search and Rescue teams, leading rescues in North America and Asia.

Jeff has provided risk management reviews, expert witness services, incident reviews, and safety trainings for organizations in over 70 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, and Africa.

Jeff lives on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish people in Seattle, Washington, USA.

  • Katie Rogers

    Founder & Director, Baden-Powell Scoutcraft Fellowship, Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany

  • Reid Burland

    Owner, Geronimo Construction, North Dakota, USA

  • [Viristar’s Risk Management for Outdoor Programs textbook is] a great resource…I know that I will use it often.

    Beta Eaton

    Director of Global & Experiential Learning, Kents Hill School, Maine, USA

  • A handy and easy to follow textbook.

    Sulistyo Sapto Winarno (Soel)

    Program Development, Jelajah Outdoor, Jawa Barat, Indonesia

  • A thoughtfully developed and nicely comprehensive manual for a wide range of risk management roles.

    Dan Bookham

    Vice President for Business Development, Allen Insurance & Financial, Maine, USA

  • [Viristar’s Risk Management for Outdoor Programs textbook is] amazingly helpful.

    Lesley Pfeiffer

    Program Supervisor, Sonoma County Regional Parks, California, USA

  • Dr. Christian Bisson

    Professor of Adventure Education & Adventure Education Program Coordinator, Plymouth State University, New Hampshire, USA

  • The risk management textbook from Viristar is a very useful resource.

    Jacob Wall

    Program Director, Society for Wilderness Stewardship, Grand Lake, Colorado USA

  • [Viristar’s Risk Management for Outdoor Programs textbook is] very comprehensive, well laid out, easy to follow, and has excellent content and useful examples.

    Paul Delane

    Head of Outdoor Education, Sacred Heart College, Sorrento, Western Australia

  • The textbook is a very good insight into the world of risk management.

    Ásgeir Örn Kristinsson

    Manager, Bjorgunarfelag Akraness (Akranes Rescue Team), Akranes, Iceland

  • The example forms and lists [in Viristar’s Risk Management for Outdoor Programs textbook] are invaluable, allowing an organization to adopt them with limited changes.

    Paul Stonehouse

    Assistant Professor of Experiential & Outdoor Education, Western Carolina University, North Carolina, USA

  • Joel Bateman

    Park Manager, Outdoor Recreation and Education Manager, City of Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

  • The textbook was easy to follow and provided me with the thorough material needed to be successful in this course.

    Madeline Showalter

    Parks & Recreation Outdoor Supervisor, Blacksburg Parks and Recreation, Virginia, USA

  • An excellent textbook for learning, but also serves as a useful resource to have readily available for outdoor programs administrators to access.

    Jon Browher

    Outdoor Skills Program Coordinator, Brewster Academy, New Hampshire, USA

  • [Viristar’s Risk Management for Outdoor Programs textbook is] a useful, systematic, comprehensive and practical reference.

    Wenqi Xu

    Associate Professor, Wuhan Sports University, Georgia, USA