Workplace health, safety and wellbeing for Adventure tourism companies: crew rest, briefings and near misses
Adventure work exposes both guests and crew to risk. HR's part is the routines around people, such as rest, briefings and honest reporting, and not the technical safety method.
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Share your requirementsWhy workplace health, safety and wellbeing matters in adventure tourism companies
In adventure tourism the safety plan is written by specialists, but whether it works depends on tired people at six in the morning. A leader who slept badly, a porter who was not briefed and a guide who hid a near miss because he feared blame all weaken it.
A people routine adds to the technical plan. It sets rest rules between trips, a daily briefing for all crew, a simple way to report a near miss without penalty and a check on how field staff feel. Imagine a rafting guide who slipped on a rock and said nothing. A reporting habit gets that in the open the same day.
How to set it up
1. Fix a daily crew briefing
Five minutes each morning for everyone including porters and cooks: the plan, the weather, the roles and who calls whom.
2. Set rest rules
Hours of rest on long days and days off between trips, written in the roster and approved by a named person.
3. Start a near miss note
A short record, no blame, of anything that almost went wrong, read by the leader group each month.
4. Check on crew wellbeing
A conversation with each field person at the end of a trip about sleep, stress and anything that worried them.
5. Leave technical rules to specialists
Ask a qualified professional to set equipment and rescue standards, and link them to the HR routines. Health and safety support covers the people side.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask crew if they feel able to report a near miss without trouble.
- Check how many hours a leader worked on the longest trip last season.
- See if cooks and porters attend the morning briefing.
- Look at the near miss notes of the last season, if any.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach workplace health, safety and wellbeing in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
No. Technical standards belong with qualified specialists and regulators. HR can ensure the crew are briefed, rested and free to speak up.
Make clear that reports are not punished, thank people who make them and show what changed. If the first report meets blame, you will not get a second.
Long periods away and a tough rescue can weigh on people. Check in after trips, offer time off and give access to a counsellor where you can.