Risk Management

Training courses to foster positive safety outcomes

Viristar offers comprehensive, engaging trainings designed to help outdoor, adventure and experiential professionals achieve excellence in safety outcomes.

Viristar offers a 40-hour online Risk Management for Outdoor Programs course, which takes place over the span of four weeks (29 days). 

Viristar also offers a 16-hour in-person Foundations of Adventure Safety course, which is classroom-based and takes place over two days.

Both courses are globally acclaimed for their world-class quality, depth and rigor. Participants from over 80 countries on six continents have benefited from these trainings.

In addition to risk management trainings, Viristar also offers other risk management services, including risk management audits, incident reviews, expert witness services, adventure safety accreditation, and support with developing safety system documents, procedures and systems.

Rigorous and intensive online training course, taking 40 hours over four weeks (29 days)

Content includes safety science, incident causation models, risk assessment, human factors, systems thinking, legal considerations, documentation, emergency response, safety management systems, and much more

Curriculum designed for managers of adventure, experiential, wilderness and travel-based programs

Course includes five once-a-week video-conference calls with approximately 10 hours of independent work between each call

Textbook included with training. Course completion certificate valid for three years.  Custom courses also available. 

Sixteen-hour in-person class, usually held over two days, covering essential outdoor and adventure safety topics

Course subjects include safety standards, legal considerations, risk assessment, risk management plans, safety culture, human factors, emergency response, medical screening, incident reporting, working with third parties, systems thinking and more

Course is designed for coordinators, managers, directors and other leaders of adventure, experiential, wilderness and travel-based programs

Print copy of textbook included with training. Course completion certificate valid for three years.

Testimonials

  • The Risk Management for Outdoor programs course has helped us tremendously as we plan our expansion into a new geography.

    Johannes Visser

    Head of Expansion, OrcaNation, Nairobi, Kenya

  • Very thought provoking…you come away with a concrete, actionable plan that will help you develop risk management further within your organization.

    Roisin Pearson

    Deputy Head, Safeguarding & Well-being Education Specialist, British School Manila, Manila, Philippines

  • An excellent course…well facilitated.

    Cathie Riley

    School Nurse, The Fay School, Texas, USA

  • A unique experience – I loved it.

    Manthos Dellatolas

    Owner, Outdoor Explorers, Athens, Greece

  • I found this course incredibly useful…I was surprised and impressed with how much I learned and how applicable everything was.

    Dave Payne

    Director of Experiential Education, Sparks Rowing, Washington DC, USA

  • The course provided a systematic approach to safety management.

    Rene Valner

    Coach, Sea Kayaking Estonia, Viljandi, Estonia

  • Very thorough and incredibly useful.

    Gergely Veghseo

    ESL Teacher, Outdoor Educator, St. George International School, Sofia, Bulgaria

  • The instructors were amazing.

    Guadalupe Navarro

    Community Engagement Manager, Sonoma County Regional Parks, California, USA

  • This course was comprehensive, and the most informative part were the weekly self-assessments to reflect on where our organization was in terms of risk management.

    Beta Eaton

    Director of Global & Experiential Learning, Kents Hill School, Maine, USA

  • Covers extensive topics and real life case studies to easily understand how to initiate risk management within an organization.

    Long Henson

    Metropolitan Mountaineering Society, Philippines

  • Lisette Gachanja

    Program Director, Urbanite Camps, Nairobi, Kenya

  • This is the most immersive and rewarding risk management course I’ve ever taken.

    Wenqi Xu

    Associate Professor, Wuhan Sports University, Georgia, USA

  • Viristar has nailed their online learning approach. Course material is rigorous, up-to-date and highly relevant and practical to anyone involved in outdoor and experiential learning.

    Matthew Schulte

    Director of Local & Global Engagement, Canadian International School Hong Kong, Hong Kong

  • Shantanu Pandit

    Co-Founder, Maha Adventure Council, Mumbai, India

  • It was great to have a variety of experience and perspectives that made for some great discussions.

    Jen Siliko

    Outdoor Pursuit Center Director, Miami University, Ohio, USA