Textbook

Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure

The acclaimed textbook Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure is available for purchase in paperback and eBook format.

Buy Now

Your outdoor, experiential or travel program provides fun, personal growth, adventure. It changes lives. But are your safety systems up to standards? If something happens, are you prepared to respond?


Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure provides essential knowledge for any adventure or outdoor professional. Program managers, executives, volunteers and group leaders will learn critical approaches and strategies for successfully anticipating and addressing risks.

Packed with real-life stories, current research findings, and good practice guidance, Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: a Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure gives expert advice on:

  • Approaches to Risk Management
  • Standards
  • Legal Considerations
  • Safety Culture
  • Activities and Program Areas
  • Staff
  • Equipment
  • Participants
  • Subcontractors
  • Transportation
  • Business Administration
  • Risk Transfer
  • Incident Management
  • Incident Reporting
  • Incident Reviews
  • Risk Management Committee
  • Medical Screening
  • Risk Management Reviews
  • Media Relations
  • Documentation
  • Accreditation
  • Seeing Systems

Use the button below to download a 15-page sample of the book, including Contents, Preface, and Introduction.

Download sample

Price: ‎USD 59

Author: Jeff A. Baierlein
Publisher: ‎Viristar (March 21, 2019)
Sold by: Amazon

Language: English

Paperback
Length: 218 pages
Item Weight: ‎ .75 kg | 1.65 pounds
Dimensions: ‎ 21.6 x 1.4 x 28 cm | 8.5 x 0.54 x 11 inches
ISBN-10: 1733349111
ISBN-13: 978-1733349116
OCLC Number: 1273556703

eBook

The e-book edition, a Kindle e-book download, is available for virtually all devices, including Android, iPhone, tablets, Mac and PC, with the free Kindle app.

Features of this print replica edition include:

  • Notes and highlights
  • Search, copy and paste
  • Zoom and pan
  • Pop-out linked table-of-contents
  • Page numbers matching print edition

Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure is used in university classrooms, educational travel programs, adventure tourism operations, search and rescue, adventure centers, outdoor education and forest schools, camps, wilderness therapy programs, park and recreation settings, and more.

About the Author

Jeff Baierlein (he/him) is the director of the consultancy Viristar, providing safety, curriculum, and strategy services to outdoor, adventure, travel, and experiential programs worldwide.

Jeff began working as an outdoor and adventure professional in 1987.  He has over 1000 field days leading mountaineering, sailing, whitewater and flatwater canoeing, backpacking, whitewater and sea kayaking, rock climbing, canyoning and caving expeditions up to three months in length. 

Jeff is the former Executive Director of Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School and of the Boojum Institute for Experiential Education. He has worked as an EMT and on Search and Rescue teams, leading rescues in North America and Asia.

Jeff has provided risk management reviews, expert witness services, incident reviews, and safety trainings for organizations in over 70 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, and Africa.

Jeff lives on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish people in Seattle, Washington, USA.

  • The most comprehensive and up-to-date textbook on risk management in the outdoor and adventure fields!

    Gabriel Côté-Valiquette

    Auxiliary Faculty, Field Instructor, College of the Rockies, British Columbia, Canada

  • Very practical textbook that provides rationales behind each theory.

    Bill Feng

    Senior Manager of Operations, Keru Knowledge, Shanghai, China

  • [Viristar’s Risk Management for Outdoor Programs textbook is] a useful, systematic, comprehensive and practical reference.

    Wenqi Xu

    Associate Professor, Wuhan Sports University, Georgia, USA

  • Joel Bateman

    Park Manager, Outdoor Recreation and Education Manager, City of Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

  • [Viristar’s Risk Management for Outdoor Programs textbook is a] great reference material containing numerous practical examples of solutions to implement.

    Camille Logeay-Hattori

    Outdoor Guide & Educator, Japan Dimension, Freeride-Japan, Nagano, Japan

  • Awesome textbook by Viristar–clear and detailed.

    Ira Christian

    Director of Outdoor Studies, Manzanita School and Institute, California, USA

  • The book is comprehensive and well organized, with visuals that capture the text perfectly!

    Monica Barrios

    Owner, Director, Inside Out, North Carolina, USA

  • Exhaustive and valuable [textbook] content…highly relevant to and beneficial for all outdoor educators.

    Mohammad Zulhilmi Bin Mohammad

    Head/Lead Instructor (Training), Outward Bound Singapore, Singapore

  • Well written textbook, with vocabulary suited for the masses, even English Second Language students, with focused understandable content

    Lanny Donde

    Outdoor Education Teacher, Calgary Academy, Alberta, Canada

  • [Viristar’s Risk Management for Outdoor Programs textbook] covered, in much detail, all the conceivable aspects of risk management in outdoor programs.

    Ali Lott

    Assistant Head of Science Faculty, Tanglin Trust School, Singapore

  • The risk management textbook from Viristar is a very useful resource.

    Jacob Wall

    Program Director, Society for Wilderness Stewardship, Grand Lake, Colorado USA

  • The textbook is comprehensive, well written, easy to understand and very relevant to the nature of risk management in the outdoor industry

    Alan Champkins

    Head of Centre, Ndubaluba Outdoor Centre, Mkushi, Zambia

  • An excellent textbook for learning, but also serves as a useful resource to have readily available for outdoor programs administrators to access.

    Jon Browher

    Outdoor Skills Program Coordinator, Brewster Academy, New Hampshire, USA

  • Viristar’s risk management textbook can easily become a strong reference for risk management improvement.

    Samanta Chu

    Director, Wilderness Medical Associates Brasil, São Paulo, Brasil

  • Viristar’s risk management textbook was thorough and hit all the high notes.

    Rachel Garrett

    Experiential Education Coordinator, Jackson Hole Community School, Wyoming, USA