_edited_j.jpg)
How Can We Manage Safety If We Don't Agree What It Is?
A recent study published in Safety Science provides an overview and summary of the schools of thought regarding how we define Safety.
UPDATED: Federal Government Layoffs and Executive Orders: Risk Management Implications
Last Update : April 6, 2025 - adding information about most recent Executive Order Anyone running an outdoor or experiential education...
How Cognitive Biases Short-Circuit Learning From Incidents
“Rather than perceiving time as a continuum, we tend to think about our lives as episodes, creating story arcs from the notable incidents or chapters in our lives.” - Katy Milkman “What you call ‘root cause’ is simply the place where you stop looking any further.” - Sidney Dekker In order to explore improved ways of learning from incidents and near-misses, let’s look back at some of the common fallacies and errors that can lead us to perhaps learn the wrong lessons. Aft
Learning, Not Blaming, When Incidents Occur
The Blame Cycle Occupational Safety researcher James Reason describes a destructive cycle that organizations and people can find...
What happens if we fail to learn from our near-misses?
The Boeing 737 MAX crashes reveal an opportunity for outdoor program leadership to learn crucial lessons about systems thinking, near-miss r
Why Cheerleading for Safety Doesn't Work
"Simply asking people to care more doesn't create a system where there are less incidents. What scares me is that when we ask workers to...
Are We Learning (and Sharing) our Lessons in the Mountains?
By Joshua Cole “ The only real mistake is one from which we learn nothing ” I was in a rush the other day, and I can’t remember why, but...
Applying a Continuous Improvement Model to Stay Current with COVID-19 Protocols
Today (May 28, 2021), the CDC issued new COVID-19 guidance for summer camps, which reflects ongoing changes to which outdoor programs...
Focus on Near Misses to Cultivate a Culture of Risk Management
A group of teenage students on an overnight backpacking trip sit in a circle around a natural rock "table" in the Mojave desert, eating...
How "Safe" Do We Claim to be?
The Importance of Clarifying Risk Tolerance for Outdoor Programs Clarifying your organization’s risk philosophy is a nuanced but...
