iblog

The rise and rise of the “gap year”, not to mention all those early-retirement SKI-ers (Spending the Kids’ Inheritance), has ensured that an increasing number of Brits are seeking adventure abroad. Trekking to Everest base Camp, rafting the Zambezi, mountain biking in the Andes…the chioce just keeps getting wider. Sadly, there has also been an upturn in the number of accidents and deaths affecting people on adventurous trips.

So it’s good news that a new British standard has been launched, namely BS 8848: A Specification for adventurous activities, expeditions, visits and fieldwork outside the UK. The standard aims to reduce the participant’s risk of injury or illness, and stipulates good practice guidelines for the trip organiser. One area where difficulties have arisen in the past is the use of local suppliers on location. While the tour operator may have high standards in the UK, once at the destination travellers have often found aspects of safety provision to be lacking. The standard addresses this issue by requiring that one person or organisation be identified as the “venture provider” or “expedition organiser”. As such, they would have responsibility for all aspects of the trip including safety.

The standard is the culmination of a long process which began in 1999 when Peter Eisenegger proposed the idea to the British Standards Institute. His daughter Claire had tragically died of heat stroke on a gap year expedition that year. Hopefully this standard will reassure parents that there is a much lower risk of their own child suffering a similar fate as a result of poor practice by the tour operator. So make sure you ask about BS 8848, and travel in the knowledge that yours is a responsible provider.

For further information, see the BSI website

This entry was posted on Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 6:44 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.