Incident Review
Understand contributing factors to a major incident, and recommended steps to help prevent recurrence
Incident Review
Understand contributing factors to a major incident, and recommended steps to help prevent recurrence
Incisive and Deep Incident Analysis
When a critical incident occurs, it’s important to have an outside review conducted by independent experts. Viristar’s Incident Review service provides this careful, expert analysis for outdoor, adventure, travel and experiential programs that have suffered a major occurrence.
Viristar provides an impartial expert or team of specialists to thoroughly analyze the incident, identify potential causal factors, and deliver a detailed written report. The report includes recommendations regarding how to reduce the probability of recurrence of the same or a similar incident.
Viristar staff have reviewed incidents involving wilderness fatalities, property damage, major psychological stress injury, serious legal ramifications, and complex networks of causality. Our incident reviews have been completed for organizations ranging in size from one sole-proprietor owner/operator to thousands of employees, and in multiple countries.
Viristar’s reviews can be relied on to provide impartial and insightful guidance that lucidly illuminates contributing factors, and offers recommended pathways to help prevent future incidents.
Benefits of a Viristar Incident Review
Viristar’s experienced incident review staff bring important benefits to the review process that can help clients learn and grow from difficult and challenging situations.
Industry Expertise
Viristar staff bring to the incident review process decades of experience in a wide variety of programs, travel modes, global locations, cultural contexts and technical settings.
Credibility
Viristar reviews are rigorously impartial and balanced. Our Incident Review reports employ technical precision, factual accuracy, and relevant reference to established outdoor/experiential industry standards.
Insightful Analysis
Viristar’s incident analyses are informed by systems theory and contemporary models of incident causation. Reviews evaluate cultural factors, entities indirectly involved in incident causation, and underlying causes.
Confidentiality
Viristar has experience providing reports at all levels of confidentiality and transparency, from confidential reports protected by attorney-client privilege to publicly available documents.
The Incident Review Process
The Incident Review process generally includes the following steps:
- Client organization provides Viristar with all relevant written documentation regarding the incident, including Incident Reports, Internal Incident Review report, police report, and event narratives. Client organization also provides all relevant risk management documentation, such as course area guides, staff training plans, and emergency response plans/situation response plans.
- Viristar staff interview individuals involved and management staff, review relevant documentation, and conduct other appropriate investigative actions as needed.
- Viristar’s review team of one or more Viristar staff and any required outside technical specialists visit the incident site for on-site analysis, as appropriate.
- Viristar prepares confidential report for client. The report describes findings, analysis and recommendations.
- Viristar provides a draft report to client.
- Client reviews draft report and provides feedback and comments to Viristar.
- Following review of client feedback, Viristar issues final confidential report to client.
The process can be customized for specific client interests and needs.
Activities Reviewed
Examples of activities for which Viristar can provide Incident Review services include:
- Animal (horseback, camel etc.) riding
- Archery
- Avalanche terrain travel
- Backpacking
- Bicycling
- Boating
- Bouldering
- Camping & campcraft
- Canyoning/canyoneering/kloofing
- Caving/mine exploration
- Climbing
- Coasteering
- Cultural exchange
- Dayhiking
- Environmental/science
- Fishing
- Flatwater canoeing
- Foefie sliding
- Glacier travel
- Hiking, trekking & backpacking
- Initiative/Game
- International travel
- Kitchen/cooking
- Motor vehicle operations
- Mountaineering
- Rappelling/abseiling
- Residential/overnight programs
- River crossing
- River tracing
- Rock climbing & ice climbing
- Ropes Course/Challenge Course
- Running/walking
- Safari
- Sailing
- Scrambling
- Sea kayaking
- Service learning/service project
- Skiing
- Snorkeling
- Snowboarding
- Snowshoeing
- Solo
- SUP (stand up paddleboard)
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Unaccompanied travel
- Via ferrata
- Whitewater canoeing
- Whitewater kayaking
- Zip lining
Please inquire with Viristar if you are interested in a review regarding an activity not on this list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Viristar has conducted remote reviews. In this case, information-gathering is done by document review, interviews, and gathering of other data (e.g. weather information) remotely. Presentation of report findings and the final written report is done by video-conference and email, or by similar methods.
It’s typical for an internal incident review to be held for any major incident, such as one leading to emergency hospitalization or unfavorable news media coverage.
For critical incidents, such as a fatality, a permanently disabling injury or illness, or major property damage, it’s typical for a second incident review to also be conducted, in this case by a third-party reviewer. Viristar provides these external reviews, which complement the findings on an internal review.
This process generally takes weeks to months. The specific timeline depends on factors including location and magnitude of incident.
Yes. Viristar can combine an incident review with risk management training to help organizational staff understand incident causation models and best practices in risk management .
Viristar can also create, edit or assist in writing or updating risk management documents before or after performing an Incident Review, or provide other training and consulting support.
The Viristar Incident Review report is provided to the client as a confidential document. The client may choose to share some or all of the report findings, and the document may be discoverable in legal proceedings.
Reports delivered to attorneys working for an outdoor/experiential program are generally protected under attorney-client privilege.
The cost of an Incident Review varies depending on the unique circumstances of the review, such as nature and location of the incident. Contact us for an estimate or full written proposal.
