More Than Safety. How Risk Management Supports Our Programs.
Risk Management Refined
For 24 years, schools, parents and students have relied on ALIVE Outdoors to prioritize safety, evaluate and communicate risk, and be present to answer your questions. There is not any one way to describe our approach to risk management, instead the following pages will give you insight into how we approach the work of keeping our programs safe while offering innovative educational programming.
Health and Safety Considerations for all ALIVE Programs
RISK MANAGEMENT AT ALIVE OUTDOORS
Our approach to risk management is focused on ensuring that we can deliver on the high expectations that schools and organizations have of an ALIVE experience. Each year we bring together over 5000 students and 150 instructors to participate in outdoor, wilderness, experiential, and global learning programs. We select program locations and activity types based upon comprehensive risk assessment, program goals, and industry best practices.
Too Often Risk Management's Default Approach Is To Limit Options
Our Focus On Risk Management Allows Us To Identify & Enable Opportunities
Experiences Designed For Growth - Balancing Risk & Reward
Experiential education requires students to be active participants in their learning. We strive to create opportunities for students to navigate their preconceptions, feelings, make decisions, and create their own paths to solving problems. Carefully managing both the physical and psychological risks is paramount to our philosophy of education. Learn About Our Educational Philosophy.
Physical & Personal Safety
- Reputable Locations and Instructors
- Clear Teaching, Instructions and Progressions
- Educative Approach to Risk in Education
Psychological & Emotional Safety
- Challenge by Choice
- Engagement Through Support and Community
- Purposeful Reflection and Debriefing
EXPLORE THE ALIVE 2025 PROGRAM GUIDE
In addition to our Risk Management planning and Health and Safety documentation, the ALIVE Outdoors Program Guide has been created to complement and further highlight our educational philosophy, risk mitigation practices, and the desired learning outcomes of our programs. We invite you to explore our Program Guide to take a visual tour of our program environment, including photos of program elements, learning outcomes, and brief key risk management practices for each program area.
The Program Guide is intended to give parents, students, participants, and administrators a clearer understanding of our programs, visually communicating the programming that participants engage in, and identifies some of the potential risks and what we do to mitigate them. We strongly believe that informing those parties involved with the ALIVE community helps everyone make better-informed decisions about participation and be better prepared to participate in an ALIVE experience.
Program Paperwork - Our Connection Back Home
All of our programs will entail a set of program paperwork for the parents/guardians to review. This paperwork will come directly from the school and often accompanies their own paperwork. We would ask that you carefully consider all the documents you receive and if you have questions please contact us.
Letter to Parents
All of our programs are intentionally crafted to meet specific educational and community development goals. We want parents and guardians to be fully informed of the intention and activities students will be participating in.
Health Form
Many of our programs take place in outdoor settings and sometimes in remote locations. We collect basic health information that helps us make good decisions should a health concern present itself.
Parent/Student Agreement
Our contract with you the parents/guardians, we want you to be well informed before sending your students on an ALIVE program. There are risks with any endeavor and we want you and your student to feel prepared.
If you have questions or concerns about any of the program paperwork please do not hesitate to reach out to one of our Directors. We believe in clear risk communication and as such would love to speak with you. Contact Us.
Meet Our Director of Risk Management
We Believe In People. Learn More About Our Full Time Team.
Director of Operations & Risk Management, Canadian Risk Management Consultant and Adjunct Professor.
Risk Management Planning & Documentation
Planning, policy, and procedures are only one part of a comprehensive approach to risk management. At ALIVE we seek to enable our systems approach to Risk Management through our illustrative risk assessments and risk register documentation. In doing so, we have developed a number of risk assessment, planning, and mitigation tools that help us enable our goals and communicate risk with our partner sites, schools and insurers. Much of what we develop internally acts as the foundation for the consulting work, industry collaboration, and research we contribute to.
- Illustrative Risk Registers and Heat Maps
- Responsive Policies and Procedures
- Comprehensive Incident Reporting and Analysis
- Systematic Review and Policy Revision
- Prioritized Risk Communication Model
- Site and Activity Specific Contingency and Emergency Planning
Activity Sites & Valued Partners
To achieve the complexity and diversity of programming locations and options we deliver means relying upon a select group of facilities, operators, and valued partners. We work collaboratively to ensure that risk management meets both ALIVE’s Risk Management standards along with the facilities’/provider’s practices. We believe that together, we can offer risk management that incorporates both local knowledge and expertise with institutional-level risk awareness and practices.
- Specialized Activity and Industry Experience
- Industry Recognized Qualifications
- Select Activity and Facility Accreditations
- Inspections and Regulator Compliance
- Allergy Awareness and Planning in Food Services
ALIVE Instructor Team
Each year we bring together a highly dedicated group of facilitators, field guides, educators, nurses, and support instructors to help us deliver our programs. We are indebted to our instructor community for their care, compassion, and professionalism. We rely on our instructors to reinforce our strong risk management practices within our programs.
- Specialized Educational Experience and Training
- Industry Recognized Qualifications
- Vulnerable Sector Screenings
- Medical, Water and Ropes Course Trainings
- Instructors Have an Average of Five Years Experience
Industry Contributions & Research
We work in camp-based, wilderness, virtual, and global program formats with students from around the world. Our depth of experience in locations and activity formats allows us insight into unique program models and risk management approaches. We actively contribute to a range of Provincial, National and International safety organizations, College Advisory Councils, and University Department Risk Committees. Our risk consulting team works with a range of external organizations, legal firms, and health care providers in the areas of risk, ERM and experiential design.
- Contribute and Lead Industry Research in Outdoor Recreation, Experiential Education and Risk Management
- Independent School Risk Advisory Services with Provincial and National Organizations
- OPHEA Standards Writing Committee, University Risk Management Review and Policy Development, etc.
- Independent School and School Board Safety Audits and Standards Reviews
Insurance & Risk Transfer
Any comprehensive approach to risk management includes a specific level of risk transfer, and in part that is achieved through insurance. We have developed our approach to risk transfer with our commercial insurance brokers and underwriters to have a very strong insurance backing for all our programs.
- Industry Leading Coverage Amounts
- Specific Coverages for Working with Youth
- Named Activity Inclusions for Mountain Biking & Skiing etc., to Increase Standard Minimums
ALIVE Consulting Services - Delivering Innovative Solutions
Professional Services for Schools, School Boards, Educational Organizations, Camps and Experiential Businesses
Specialists in Educational Risk and Experiential Design
- Risk Management in Education, Experiential Programming and Travel
- Enterprise Risk Management Design and Implementation
- Experiential Program Scope and Sequence Design