Safety & Accreditations
If you want to see or download any of our documents then please find them here:
Risk versus Reward.......
To feel ‘adventurous’ activities need to feel challenging and put individuals outside of their ‘Comfort Zone’. but they should also feel safe. Venture Out works hard to ensure that our activities and expedition programmes provide an appropriate challenge for participants without compromising on safety.
Adventurous Activities Licensing Authority
The Adventurous Activities Licensing Authority is the body which regulates Adventurous Activities in the UK. It is a government body and part of the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). Venture Out is licensed by AALA to provide hill walking, canoeing and mountain biking activities. This licence is required by companies who work with under 18 year olds. We are audited to ensure we:
employ staff who hold the relevant leadership or coaching qualifications, first Aid certificates, and Police DBS checks.
have Public Liability Insurance (£10 million)
have Risk assessments, Operating Procedures, Safety & Safeguarding policies.
Copies of these documents are available on our Downloads page. If you require any further documentation please contact us.
More details can be found at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/aala/index.htm
Safeguarding young people
Venture Out is committed to the Safeguarding of young people from all forms of neglect and abuse, from all possible others. We have Safeguarding policies and procedures for our activities, that staff and participants must follow. We our staff recruitment procedure requires that our staff have enhanced DBS checks & first aid certificates.
Insurance
Venture Out is fully insured for all programmes that it runs through insurer Activities Industry Mutual. Our cover includes:
• £10 million liability insurance cover;
• Employers liability;
Approved Activity Provider
Venture Out Expeditions is an Approved Activity Provider for The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. If a school or youth group want to contract a commercial organisation to provide the Expedition section, then DofE insists that the organisation is audited & approved by them. This audit process ensures that our programmes provide the participants with the best possible staff, training, equipment and safety supervision systems. And that our programme will ensure the expedition meets the DofE’s ‘20 conditions for a Qualifying Expedition’.
Qualifications & Professional Association membership
Each instructor holds the National Governing Body qualifications appropriate for them to lead groups for that particular sport or activity, in the different levels of environment. Our instructors are also DofE experts, they have all completed a DofE Induction course and the majority are DofE Accredited Assessors.
Professional Associations & CPD: All our staff who lead or coach on events are asked by us to join the appropriate professional association for the awards that they hold:
Being a member of these associations ensures that instructors continue their professional development and training and keep on top of current issues affecting the outdoor industry. Staying up to date and current in your training is vital in the outdoors.
First Aid, emergency situations
All of our instructors are qualified first aiders and have attended activity specific courses to enable them to deal efficiently with any situation that may arise. Our staff will carry first aid kits and emergency shelters for groups.
DofE Expedition Supervision & GPS trackers
DofE expedition participants will receive training to teach them about keeping themselves well during expeditions and to use their first aid kits. We teach them how to deal with emergencies and how to contact our staff or emergency services.
Technology: Teams are issued with emergency phones and GPS trackers that allow our staff to stay close and be contacted if needed. We use these phones and trackers on all levels of award, and on Training and Qualifying expeditions.
Staff ratios: We don’t employ this technology to allow us to reduce staffing ratios. In fact we have higher staff ratios than many companies. We provide 1 trainer per team for all days of the Training Expedition and then 1 assessor per 2 teams on the Qualifying expedition. There is always a floating coordinator on all our events to support staff and teams.
Cancellation Policies
As our programme elements often require advance booking (instructors, campsites, bunkhouses, equipment logistics), we have in place cancellation time frames for refunds. This is mainly to ensure we can pay our staff in case of a client cancellation. Full details can be found in our Booking T&Cs when you book. We therefore recommend that all participants take out cancellation insurance in case anything unforeseen arises before or during your programme that means you have to withdraw.