Leadership Level 1
(Paddling + Hiking)
Student Manual
(April 28, 2014)
Albi Sole and Will Woods.
© Outdoor Council of Canada / Conseil canadien de plein air
Published by
The Outdoor Council of Canada / Conseil canadien de plein air
KNA-101, 2500 University Drive NW.
Calgary, AB. Canada. T2N 1N4
First Published:
© 2012 and the Outdoor Council of Canada / Conseil canadien de plein air
All rights reserved.
No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical
or other means, without permission in writing from the publisher
This first edition of this manual was written with assistance and guidance of the
following members of the Certification Committee of the Outdoor Council of Canada/
Conseil canadien de plein air:
Ian Sherrington (Chair)
Robyn Rankin
Jo-Anne Reynolds
Peter Tucker
Jeff Storck
Mike Crowtz
The Outdoor Council would like to thank the David Elton Outdoor Fund, The Outdoor
Centre at the University of Calgary, and the Mountain Equipment Coop for providing the
financial support that made the creation of this manual possible.
Leadership Level 1 (Paddling) ©
Outdoor Council of Canada / Conseil canadien de plein air
1
Contents
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………
3
About this Course ……………………………………………………………….
4
Scope of Practice …………………………………………………………..…….
7
Chapter 1. Reasons to Become an Outdoor Leader ……………………..………..
9
Chapter 2. Pre-Event Planning (The Vision) ….………………………..…..….… 12
Chapter 3. The Water Environment and Hiking Matrixes …………..….……….
18
Chapter 4. Pre-Event Planning (Hazards and Defenses) …………………........... 25
Chapter 5. Pre-Event Planning (Team Building) ……………………..…………... 42
Chapter 6. Environmental Responsibility ……………………………..………… 46
Chapter 7. Last Minute Checks ………………………………………………….. 49
Chapter 8. Group Management ………………………………………………….. 52
Chapter 9. Situational Awareness ……………………...……………...….…........ 61
Chapter 10. Accident and Emergency Response …………………..……….…….. 64
Chapter 11. Debriefing ……………………………………………………………. 66
Appendix A. Participant - Equipment Lists ………..…….…….…………............. 72
Appendix B. Leader – Equipment List ……………………...…….…………..….. 76
Appendix C. Transport Canada regulations for watercraft………………………... 78
Appendix D. Important Components - Emergency Response Plan ………..……… 79
Appendix E. Non PFD Water Access Procedures……………..………..…………. 83
Appendix F. OCC PFD Protocol………………………………………………….. 84
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Introduction
Welcome to the Outdoor Council of Canada's Level 1 Leadership Course. Perhaps this is
the first outdoor leadership course you have ever taken, or maybe you already have
substantial outdoor leadership experience. Either way, we hope that you find this course
to be an exciting and rewarding experience. Within this course you will find some of the
most current ideas on making outdoor leadership a satisfying and safe experience for you
and the people who will have the privilege of following your lead.
Outdoor environments offer a multitude of leadership possibilities ranging from a
neighbourhood walk or biology class in an urban park, to breathtaking adventures in a
remote and challenging wilderness. This course will provide a solid foundation for
planning different types of events in a multitude of outdoor environments.
Definitions
This course is designed for people leading many different types of outdoor experiences.
To avoid having to keep repeating a series of words to describe this diversity we have
chosen some words to refer to these lists. Thus:
We use the word ‘participant’ to describe the people who will be following your lead.
We use the word ‘event’ to describe all the sorts of things that you might organize for
others in either a Low Risk Water Environment or Class 1 Hiking Terrain.
We will use the phrase ‘Low Risk Natural Environments’ to describe both Low Risk
Water Environments and/or Class 1 Hiking Terrain.
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About this Course
The ‘Leadership Level 1’ course will provide you with a practical guide for organizing an
educational or activity-based experience in a ‘natural environment’. This course is as
much about designing and leading an event that provides a high quality experience for
your participants as it is about giving them a ‘safe’ experience. In fact, we believe that
quality and safety go hand in hand. The pre-event planning processes you need to make
before the event, the group leadership skills on the day of the event, and the de-briefing
processes that prepare you for the next event are the same processes that promote safety.
This course has two components, the leadership skills section and the technical skills
section. The leadership skills taught in this course are those needed to successfully plan
and lead a group in any sort of activity, indoors or outdoors. Since leadership has to be
attached to an activity, this version of the course has been matched with activities that
take place in ‘hiking’ or ‘paddling’ environments.
This course has been designed for people who plan to lead youth, however, a course
designed for adults would look almost identical.
This course is designed to certify people to lead others on a one-day event. Overnight
events require additional specialized skills to be managed well.
This course is designed to train and certify people to lead others in a Low Risk Water
Environment and/or Class 1 Hiking Terrain. We have defined criteria for what constitutes
a `Low Risk Water Environment` and ‘Class 1 Hiking Terrain’ in Chapter 3. Since this is
a certification course, successful completion of this course will certify you to lead others
on a one-day event in both of these environments.
This is an ‘entry level’ leadership course, which means that graduates need to be working
with other more experienced leaders upon completion of the course. This certification is
only valid while you are leading for an organization with a risk management plan written
by a suitably qualified person.
We recognize that at this time there are significant gaps in the certification available to
outdoor leaders. It is not the intention of the Outdoor Council of Canada (OCC) that
taking this course should by itself prevent you from leading others on longer events or on
events into higher risk terrain. However, this course will not provide you with any legal
safeguards regarding your leadership on such events. If you undertake such events, you
should be certain that you have the necessary additional training and experience and that
those qualifications has been validated as sufficient by other respected outdoor leaders
who agree that you have the required skills and experience.
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Prerequisites
Age
You must be 16 years of age or older to take this course. Those 18 or older who
successfully complete the course are designated as having a “Leadership Level
1(Paddling+ Hiking)” certification, while those 16 or 17-year old a designated as having
an “Apprentice Leadership Level 1(Paddling + Hiking)” certification. The word
“Apprentice” is automatically dropped on the graduate’s 18th birthday.
Skills
This is not a ‘technical skills’ course. By that we mean we will not be teaching paddling
or hiking skills. We expect you to come with some paddling skills; however our
expectations in this regard are not high because this course is for the entry-level leader.
In order to activate the water portion of this certification, you must have completed a
recognized relevant paddling skills certification and/or an industry standard in-house
training program, which at minimum has certified that you can:
1. Control the kind of paddle-craft you will be using for your event;
2. Perform an efficient rescue of the participants in the event of a capsize of a
participant’s paddle-craft, or your own paddle-craft, during your event;
Or, have demonstrated to a recognized paddling professional that you have these skills.
Course Requirements and Examination
Our goal is for you to pass this course. However, leadership is a big responsibility, so you
will have to exert some real effort. We can assure you that the more effort you put into
this course, the more you will take away from it.
Pre-course Reading
You will need to read this manual in advance and answer the quiz questions within it. At
the start of the course your instructor will confirm that you have done this. This will be
the time to ask your instructor for clarification if any of the material is not clear to you.
These quizzes prepare you for the final written test.
Course Participation
In order to cover a great deal of abstract material in a short time this course employs
many experiential learning exercises. Experiential learning can create a powerful learning
environment, but only if the participant is willing to become fully involved in the
experience. For maximum value you must actively participate.
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Field Portion
This portion of the course is not formally examined. However, we expect that you will
participate fully in the day. We also expect that you will come with the skills and
physical ability outlined in the ‘prerequisites’.
Written Test
You will write a test near the end of the last day. The mark required to pass the course
will be discussed with you at the beginning of the first day.
Pass/Fail
The written test provides an ‘objective’ measure of skills mastered. For most people this
will be the only recorded criteria for passing or failing. However, you should be aware
that in exceptional circumstances a person can fail the course based on ‘subjective’
criteria. These criteria are as follows:
An instructor can fail a person on ‘subjective’ grounds if they believe that the student:
a) Failed to demonstrate sufficient respect for the materials and/or learning processes
required for the course.
b) Failed to demonstrate sufficient respect for their fellow students or instructors.
c) Demonstrated obvious psychological distress that leads the instructor(s) to believe
that the person is struggling with psychological self-care.
d) Failed to demonstrate on the field day that they had the physical skills required to
care for themselves and their participants in a Low Risk Natural Environments
Conditions for the use of subjective criteria for failure:
a) Subjective failure will only be used under exceptional circumstances.
b) Where an instructor sees evidence during a course that leads them to suspect that
they may need to exercise their subjective judgment prerogative, and there is still
time for the student to reform their behaviour, the instructor must initiate a
discussion with the student telling him or her of their concerns and provide
specific instructions as to the change they wish to see.
c) A subjective failure can be appealed to the Outdoor Council Certification
Committee whose ruling shall be final.
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LL1 (Paddling + Hiking) Scope of Practice
The Leadership Level 1 (Paddling + Hiking) certification certifies a person to lead groups into a Low Risk Water
Environment (see page 19) on a one- day paddle providing the following conditions are met:
1) The Level 1 (Paddling + Hiking) Leader is being adequately supervised. Adequate supervision will typically mean:
a) The supervisor has 5 or more years of leadership experience, of which 2 years have been with participants of
the same demographic as those the LL1 graduate is leading.
b) The performance of the LL1 leader is actively monitored through direct observation from time to time and
there is a comprehensive trip reporting system in place.
c) The supervisor takes steps to ensure that the trip reporting system is capturing the information required to form
a judgment of the leader’s performance.
d) The supervisor is committed to creating participant centered programming.
2) The Level 1 (Paddling + Hiking) Leader has inspected every part of the terrain that their group will be using at
least once in the previous 12 months.
3) The Level 1 (Paddling) Leader has completed a recognized, relevant paddling skills certification and/or an industry
standard in-house training program, which at minimum has certified that he/she can:
1. control the kind of paddlecraft he/she will be using for the event
2. perform an efficient rescue in the event of a capsize of a participant’s paddlecraft, or his/her own paddlecraft
during the event
or has otherwise demonstrated to a recognized paddling professional that he/she has these skills.
The following restrictions apply:
1) If the Level 1 (Paddling + Hiking) Leader is under the age of majority in the Province in which they are leading,
they must be directly supervised by an adult who is also has the LL1 certification or higher. Directly supervised
means that the adult is leading the group and is able to observe or at least be in verbal contact with the minor
throughout the event.
2) If The Level 1 (Paddling + Hiking) Leader is a new leader, they must be directly supervised by an adult who also
has the LL1 certification or higher until a qualified supervisor judges that they have attained the skill, experience,
and judgment to become an equal partner in the leadership team, or leader of the event.
The following extensions apply:
1) The Level 1 (Paddling +Hiking) Leader may lead a group in a higher risk environment where they hold a valid
certificate for the risk factor that makes that environment higher risk. All other risk factors must remain compatible
with the descriptors for Low Risk Water Environments and/or Class 1 Hiking Terrain. For example: the Level 1
(Paddling) Leader with a Paddle Canada Moving Water Instructor certification can lead 1 day trips in a moving
water environment
2) The OCC is unable to vouch for any leader that leads in an environment not covered by the above scope of
practice. However, the OCC recognizes that there are many experienced outdoor leaders who do not have formal
certification for some of the trips they lead. In part this situation exists because accessible, affordable, and
appropriate leadership certification has not been available. Collectively, these people are providing an excellent
service to the community and the majority of them are competent to lead in the environments they do. However,
such leaders should be aware that the most serious incidents occurring to custodial groups have typically happened
to more experienced leaders who did not have certification specific to that environment. The OCC recommends
that such leaders, and their supervisors, take the necessary steps to assure themselves that other recognized outdoor
leaders with equivalent or higher qualifications agree that they have the necessary skill, experience and judgment
to lead the event.
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Quiz 1
A person may be qualified to lead an activity even though they are not certified to do
so. You will know that you are qualified to lead an event into environments you are
not certified for when:
a) You have more than 10 years of experience leading and feel you have the
necessary experience.
True  False 
b) You have 3 years of experience and over 100 days in the field and you have
not had an accident.
True  False 
c) Other respected outdoor leaders who agree that you have the required skills
and experience.
True  False 
d) Any of the above.
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True  False 
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Chapter 1
Reasons to Become an Outdoor Leader
Outdoor Leadership – What’s in it for me?
There are many reasons why a person might become an outdoor leader, but you may be
surprised to find that what might seem like an exciting bonus for one person can seem
like an unpleasant chore for another. While preferences are natural, we must be careful
that our dislikes don’t result in our failing to do things that will be important for the
quality and safety of our program. We also need to be aware that we may make choices
that might please us, but which are not helpful to the success of our event.
Good Leaders Enjoy their Role
Outdoor leadership should be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. In fact it is
important that it be for two reasons:
1) Leaders who enjoy leading will convey this enthusiasm to their group.
2) Good leadership requires hard work, and it isn’t possible to pour your heart into a
job you don’t like. Being a good leader is only possible if you are getting
something valuable in return.
The requirement to enjoy leadership is not a license to do the things you enjoy and avoid
the bits that you don’t. There are ‘must do’ jobs that leadership requires of you, and it is
your responsibility to do them to the best of your ability. More than this, if you skip
‘must do’ jobs, both the safety and the quality of your event will be compromised. When
that happens, leader satisfaction will drop as well.
Not all Personal Rewards are Legitimate Rewards
There are rewards that you might enjoy, but which you will have to place on the back
burner. If you allow your need to experience these rewards to dominate how you run your
event, you will create an unpleasant, unproductive, or even risky experience for your
group. Here are some classic examples:
Challenge: Getting the level of challenge right is important for everyone, whether it
be physical or mental challenge. Set the challenge too low, and everyone is bored, but
set it too high and learning ceases and the risk goes up. A common leadership mistake
is to set the challenge too high because it seems comfortable to the leader.
Novelty: The advantage of running a similar event in a familiar place is that we can
work the ‘kinks’ out. An event that is new for us will tend to have lower quality and
more risk than an event we are familiar with. However, it can get boring for you to
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run the same event over and over again. There are dangers associated with this
situation too. The bored leader is more likely to miss developing problems through
inattention.
Two things should be used to help with the novelty dilemma. The most important is
that you find the novelty you need within the group. By being people focused, you
will always find novelty as each unique group reacts in a unique way to their day. The
second thing to keep in mind is that you should change your routines and try new
ideas or events. The trick is to limit the number of new things that you introduce for a
particular event to a level that you can safely manage.
Resolving Leader’s and Participant’s Needs
To help you manage this balancing act we suggest that you follow a process that looks
like this:
Step 1): Identify those things that make or might make outdoor leadership
rewarding for you.
Step 2): Divide those ‘rewards’ into four types:
1) Those rewards that could be part of the event itself, but are
incompatible with maximizing the rewards of quality and safety for the
event (e.g. personal thrill-seeking while leading youth).
2) Those rewards that could be part of the event itself and are compatible
with the event (e.g. the pleasure of working in a natural environment).
3) Those rewards that are created by the event and contribute directly to
the quality and safety of the event (e.g. the satisfaction of a job well
done).
4) Those rewards and/or penalties (negative rewards) that are created by
being a leader of the event, but must be balanced with the interests of
the group (e.g. the need for payment, or a need for some personal time).
Step 3): Plan and execute your event so that:
1) Only those types of rewards found in 2), 3) and 4) are satisfied.
2) Use strategies to reinforce the value you place on the type 2) and 3)
rewards. We will cover how to do this in ‘Event Debriefing’.
3) When type 4) rewards are not met it will reduce your ability to lead
well. Try to find the right balance between your interests and your
participants’ interests for the type 4) rewards.
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For these reasons it is important for us to think about what we like, or think we would
like, about outdoor activity. To help you do this, please fill in the ‘Motivation and SelfDiscovery’ exercise below.
Motivation and Self-Discovery
(Try to be as honest as you can. There is no right or wrong response)
For each of the things that outdoor leadership could bring, circle how much
you like (or think you would like) each one where:
1 = I don’t like it at all
5 = I am passionate about it
Being outdoors
Learning from others
Physical activity
Working with adults
Working with children
Sharing my knowledge
Being the centre of attention
Role modeling
Challenging social situations
Challenging my physical skills
Working within the policies of my organization
To play a supporting role in a group
The difference I make in the lives of others
The freedom unplanned situations offer
New experiences
Risk taking
Being quiet and alone, or with a few close friends
The respect of others
Being in charge
Other? _______________
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Chapter 2
Pre-Event Planning (The Vision)
Introduction
The odd thing about accidents is that they don’t happen by accident. Often there is a final
decision that triggers the accident, but before that there are typically many other decisions
that lead us step by step to that final decision. This sequence of decisions is called the
‘accident chain’.
Luckily there are ways to break the accident chain before it leads to a problem. By
planning your event in a systematic way, you can create the conditions for a safe event.
Great events don’t happen by accident either. In fact the same good decisions that break
the accident chain will be the building blocks for a great event.
The Vision
Each event starts with some sort of reason or purpose for creating the event. You have a
general idea of what you want but getting from that general idea to a real event and safely
back home will require careful planning. The first stage of that planning is to consolidate
that reason or purpose into a ‘Vision’. The ‘Vision’ stage of planning is critical and
requires you to consider exactly who will be on your event, what activities you will be
doing, and where the event will take place. These three elements will have to work
together if your vision is to become a successful event.
Your Participants
In the previous chapter we looked at our personal reasons for being a leader. We did that
because good leaders meet their own needs by doing a great job of meeting the needs of
their participants. For you to do this, you will have to know something about your
participants. More than that, you will have to anticipate how they will respond to the
event you are planning. These are some of the things you should consider:
-
How new will this experience be for them? To you a day in a Low Risk Natural
Environments may seem very non-threatening, but if your group has little experience
they may be either physically and/or psychologically unprepared for this new
experience. If this is the first event you have had with this group, make sure you find
out what experience they do have. Things to be aware of are:
i) They may exaggerate their experience or ability.
ii) The stress of anticipating the challenges the day offers may exhaust them
much earlier than you ever expected.
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iii) They may lack very basic skills like how to properly grip their paddle or how
to recognize that they have sunburn developing.
-
What is the right level of physical challenge for them? There are two components to
physical challenge: technical difficulty and the energy required to complete the
paddle. While paddling on calm flat water is technically easy, it can be surprisingly
challenging for people who have never paddled. It can become even more difficult if
paddling tandem and both partners need to communicate and work together to move
their boat efficiently. This sort of paddling also requires muscles that are rarely used.
Also, many people are psychologically unprepared for the experience of tiredness
while paddling. These factors should be taken into account before the event. The right
level of difficulty is the one that leaves participants feeling that they have met a
challenge, but not so difficult that they never want to paddle again.
-
How do these specific people work together as a group? Every group has its own
internal dynamic. A group of friends that are comfortable and uncompetitive with
each other is easy to lead. A group where people don’t know each other can be more
challenging. The most difficult group to lead is one where there is competition or
dislike between the members of the group. You will typically achieve less with this
group and have more difficulty in managing risk. Plan accordingly!
-
How well do you know the group (and vice versa)? Where you do not know the group
well you will need to make more conservative choices. For this sort of situation it is a
good idea to make a conservative ‘Plan A’ that is suitable for a weaker than average
group. Then, if the group turns out to be stronger than expected you can move to a
more ambitious ‘Plan B’.
-
How well do you know the group in an natural environment? Even if you know the
group well in one environment (such as the classroom), you may be surprised by how
differently they perform in a natural setting. Again, start with a conservative ‘Plan A’,
and only move to ‘Plan B’ if their performance warrants it.
Remember that individuals and groups can vary in their ability to be successful on your
event. If at all possible, consider a training day that will give you some idea of how they
will perform. If your adventure is more ambitious, a more in-depth training program
might be more appropriate.
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The Activity
There are many wonderful things that you can do in natural environments, but you cannot
do them all on the same day. As you consider this element of the vision stage your focus
should be to:
1) Identify clearly what the goal(s) or purpose(s) of the event are.
2) Scale the goals to the abilities of the group and nature of the field location.
We know that outdoor activity and education provide many learning and health benefits,
but these benefits do not just ‘happen’. In fact a poorly planned event can have exactly
the opposite effects. Physical injuries do not promote health, and poorly planned or
executed experiential education does not educate. Worse than that, because outdoor
events can be such powerful personal experiences, if they are negative experiences they
can create significant psychological damage to a student’s self-image, or forever
convince them that natural environments are hostile and dangerous places.
Having a clear vision of what the event’s goals are will help you design the best activities
you can to achieve them.
If you identify more than one goal/purpose for the event, you will need to consider how
compatible those goals are with each other. For example, a reasonable goal is to offer a
paddling event that will teach the basics of paddling while providing enough of a workout
that the group will feel a sense of physical achievement. Another reasonable goal is to use
a field day to bring together and provide context for a six-week aquatic ecology program.
However, these two goals cannot be achieved on the same day. Of course, a few elements
of environmental education might enrich a paddling event without detracting from the
main goals, and some preparation regarding the physical demands of an aquatic ecology
field event are essential if the students are to maximize their ecology learning.
The Venue
The venue, or place where the event will happen, is often the place that inspired the
leader initially. This can be an issue. It is very important that your desire to share a place
that is important to you does not encourage you to squeeze either of the other two
elements of a well-constructed vision (participants and activity) into a plan that cannot
work because the venue is wrong for either the activity or the participants. This ‘error’
has been a major contributor to many accidents in the past.
No matter what your goals for the event are, they need to be set at the right level for the
group. That means that they should be challenging enough to engage the attention and
enthusiasm of the group, but no so challenging that they fail to achieve them. The right
venue will support this balance.
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Quiz 2
a)
What are the three elements that need to be integrated during the vision stage of
event planning?
1) _______________________________________
2) _______________________________________
3) _______________________________________
b) A poorly planned event can erase the potential educational and health benefits of
outdoor activity.
True  False 
c) The better you know your participants, the better prepared you will be to plan an
event that meets their needs.
True  False 
d) Natural environments are really just the venue for your activity, and with a little
creativeness you can make any activity work in any natural environment.
True  False 
e)
A well-planned event does not need a back-up plan (Plan B). True  False 
f)
Since outdoor events can be powerful physical and emotional experiences for
your participants, it is important that they be positive experiences.
True  False 
g) A group that performs well in a classroom setting can be expected to perform
well in an outdoor setting.
True  False 
h) Having a clear goal or purpose for your event will assist you in choosing an
appropriate activity and venue for it
True  False 
The Activity Plan
So far we have talked in general terms about evaluating your participants, activity and
venue so that you can make sure that they all fit together. This is a great deal of
information to collect, organize, and compare. It is helpful to do this in an organized way
by creating an ‘activity plan’. This plan contains specific information that will help you
identify a problem if any of your three components don’t fit together. In general, this plan
will be a schedule of what you are going to do and when you are going to do it. This sort
of organizational tool will help you identify any aspect of your vision that is unrealistic.
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Typical elements of an activity plan might be:
a) Start & Finish Times: These are the times that will bracket your event and that
everything must fit in between.
b) Total Travel Time: All parts must be accounted for including, vehicle, paddling
and launching.
A standard calculation for paddling time on calm flat water for adults is 15-20
minutes per km without the effect of wind or tides. However, this will depend on
both the age and physical condition of the group. Also remember adding
considerable weight to your boats will slow your group down.
c) ‘Getting Ready to Go’ Organization Time: You will need to allow for some
time to get going at the beginning of the day. This is time is needed by
participants to get themselves ready, and for you to check that everything is
organized.
d) Dry-land Orientation: If this is a paddling event, before you set out on the water
for the day you should take some time to orient your group to the water
environment. This would include things like:

Teaching your group what to do if they end up in the water due to a
capsize.

What their role should be in getting themselves back into their boat.

How you will assist in that kind of situation.

How to safely carry and launch boats and other equipment
Remember your group likely doesn’t spend a lot of time in paddling, so you need
to prepare them for the experience.
e) Contingency Time: You need to set aside some time at the end of the day too,
particularly if it is very important that you finish on time. This will ensure that
small disruptions to your plan do not put the whole event under a time stress that
undermines its success.
f) Specific Activities: If you are incorporating specific activities other than hiking
or paddling into your day you will need to schedule these in too.
g) The Route: Being clear on the details of your route is critical. Obviously you
cannot match the venue to the participants and activity if you are not. Knowing
your route allows you to calculate travel time and to strategize for things such as
where you want to conduct non-travel activities, including food and water breaks.
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h) Lunch Spots: While you must always be ready to adjust your plans, it will not
only help you plan your day if you know where you will stop for lunch, it will
also help your participants manage their day and their own comfort if they know
in advance when and where key activities will take place.
i) Decision Points: Few events go exactly to plan, and it is wise to consider in
advance what might be a key clue that a major change is required. For many
routes this will include a ‘decision point’ such as turn-around time, or a point that
you must have reached by a certain time if you are going to be able to complete
your event
j) Plan B: You should consider in advance if there are any things that might cause
you to change your activity entirely. The most common would be adverse
weather. If such a change is required you need to know what you are going to do
with your participants for the time they will be with you.
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Chapter 3
Criteria for a Low Risk Environment
Complexity and Quality
Complex challenges can be fun and exciting, but they also come hand in hand with
unexpected outcomes. In natural environments, ‘unexpected outcomes’ usually disrupt
our program and increase our risk. Neither of these will help us build our quality event.
Leadership itself is complex and challenging. Although this course will help you prepare
for this role and accelerate your learning, experience will be the key ingredient that
enables you to put all the ideas in this course into a seamless performance. The beginning
leader would be wise to concentrate on learning to manage the complexities that come
with leadership before exposing themselves to the complexities that more ambitious
paddling offers.
As your skill and experience increase, both as a leader and as a backcountry traveler, you
will find that your ability to understand complex natural environments increases. The
time will come when you can provide a leadership performance that you can be proud of
in complex paddling.
One of the issues that makes complex paddling hazardous is that many of the hazards are
not obvious. The inexperienced leader simply doesn’t ‘see’ that they are stumbling into a
hazardous situation. A number of high profile and very serious accidents have happened
to leaders who simply had no idea that they were in over their heads until it was too late.
For this reason, leaders need to have very specific guidance as to what water
environments are safe for them to use for their events. To assist with this the OCC has
developed criteria for a ‘Low Risk Water Environment’ and ‘Class 1 Hiking Terrain’.
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A) The ‘Low Risk Water Environment’
About the Criteria
The general term ‘Water Environment’ describes an enormous variety of natural
environments. Some of these environments are very safe places to be, others are complex
and hazardous. To understand the criteria for a Low Risk Water Environment you will
need to be clear as to what the OCC means by the following terms:
Water Environment:
Is any natural environment that is:
a) Water as opposed to land, and
b) Is not in a winter condition. That is, snow and ice
are absent except in a few small patches that pose
little risk to paddlers.
A Natural Environment: Is any outdoor environment that is not dominated by
manmade structures. This includes both man-made body and
naturally occurring bodies of water.
Now that we have defined what sort of environment we are talking about, we need to
consider the type of complexities or ‘factors’ in that environment that we know have
historically resulted in a source of risk for youth groups. For this course we will restrict
our comments to Low Risk Paddling. The ‘risk factors’ are:
a) Distance to Additional Resources. Most common paddling emergencies can be
easily managed with the assistance of a warm dry place and some addition resources
such as dry clothing or hot drinks and transport to a medical facility. These resources
should be close enough to be accessed within one hour of an event.
b) Access to Shore. Land is a relatively safe environment compared to water. For many
of the common hazards threatening paddlers are best managed by leaving the water.
Note that ‘15 minutes from shore’ means 15 minutes from a shore where you can
quickly and safety get your group off the water. Beaches, boat launches or docks
would all be examples of ‘accessible’ shore where you can get your group on land
and out of a water-based hazard.
c) Current. Currents are powerful water forces that can carry boats and swimmers great
distances, especially if the paddlers don’t understand how or have the skills to
navigate their boats in the current. Travelling with boats in anything but light currents
requires further training and experience than is covered in the LL1 (Paddling)
program.
d) Other Boat Traffic. On many bodies of water in Canada paddlers are not the only
water users, and must share with motorized boats. Since motorized watercraft can
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travel very fast and turn quickly they can cause significant injuries to participants in a
collision. The aim in Low Risk Paddling is to reduce your exposure to the fastest,
least predictable boats by staying close to the shoreline and in shallower water, where
these users usually must slow down and exert more caution.
e) Wind Exposure. Large bodies of water often have significant wind action because
there is no topography to slow the wind down. Strong winds can easily overwhelm
smaller boats under the control of novice paddlers. Wind can also carry paddlers and
boats very quickly in an undesired direction, or turn wet paddlers into hypothermic
paddlers. Strong winds can also create dangerous wave conditions.
f) Wave Exposure. Waves can create some of the most difficult challenges for novice
paddlers. Waves can overwhelm paddlers physically and mentally and also cause
boats to capsize. Paddling with waves capable of capsizing the boats you are using is
beyond the scope of the LL1 (Paddling) program.
g) Navigation. When the shore is in close proximity during your whole event,
navigational decisions are easily made using a technique called “hand-railing”. When
sight of the shore, or good definition on the shore is lost, navigational decisions
become harder and require additional skills and experience with a map, chart,
compass and/or GPS, which is beyond the scope of the LL1 (Paddling) program.
h) Visibility. Navigation and Group Management on the water are both easier when
visibility is good. Fog or other weather can reduce visibility and disorient you as a
leader. Low or poor visibility situations require special training and techniques to
manage safely and are beyond the scope of this course.
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OCC Criteria for a Low Risk Water Environment
Risk Factor
Low Risk
Distance to Additional
Resources at Road or Lodge
No more than 1 hr. to a warm dry place
and transport to a medical facility.
Access to Shore
All group members can exit to shore
quickly, easily and safely within 15
minutes.
Current
Currents less than 0.5 knots or 1 km/hr.
Other Boat Traffic
Within the activity area: No boats
traveling faster than 5 knots or 10
km/hr. and other boats not impacting
group management.
Wind Exposure
Prevailing winds greater than 10 knots
or 20 km/hr. are onshore. No wind
speeds exceed 20 knots or 40 km/hr.
Wave Exposure
Waves too small to capsize the least
stable vessel in use.
Navigation
Visibility
Destination is visible and/or shore handline can be followed.
Visibility allows for navigation without
map and compass and doesn’t
complicate group management
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B) The OCC Hiking Terrain Matrix
About the Matrix
The general term ‘Hiking Terrain’ describes an enormous variety of natural
environments. Some of these environments are very safe places to be; others are complex
and hazardous. The ‘Hiking Terrain Matrix’ has been created by the OCC through the
expertise of highly experienced panel members that used defined criteria to divide hiking
terrain into three ‘classes’. To use and understand the Matrix you will need to be clear
about what the OCC means by the following terms:
Hiking Terrain:
Is any natural environment that is:
c) Land as opposed to water, and
d) Is not in a winter condition. That is, snow and ice
are absent except in a few small patches that are
either avoidable or flat.
A Natural Environment: Is any outdoor environment that is not dominated by
manmade structures. This could include a large public garden
or a small urban park.
Now that we have defined what sort of environment we are talking about, we need to
consider the type of complexities or ‘factors’ in that environment that we know have
historically resulted in a source of risk for youth groups. For this course we will restrict
our comments to ‘Class 1 Hiking Terrain’. The ‘risk factors’ are:
i) Distance to Additional Resources. When you set out on a hike you have a finite set
of resources like food, clothing and personal energy. If something does go wrong, the
length of time it takes to get additional resources can affect how serious things
become. For example, getting wet in a rainstorm is not usually serious unless you are
wet for so long that you get hypothermia. So ‘additional resources’ in the matrix
include things like shelter, transport, and additional clothing or food.
j) Fall Exposure. A person can trip on their shoelaces, fall, and hurt themselves, but
this is not the type of ‘fall exposure’ we are talking about. For the matrix ‘fall
exposure’ is any drop that is high enough that a participant could not step down in
slow motion without using their hands. ‘Easily managed or avoided’ means that you
can either walk around it (at a safe distance for larger drops), or it is guarded by a
sturdy rail or fence. Also acceptable would be a single step down that could be
managed easily with a helping hand.
k) Technical Difficulty. Since this is ‘hiking’ terrain, technical difficulty refers to how
hard it is to walk confidently in the coordinated and balanced way we expect to see on
pavement. We expect trails to be rougher than pavement, but when the ground is
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slippery, is covered in small rocks that roll under your feet, larger rocks that you can
slip between, or is quite sloped, we consider this to be ‘unstable footing’. Unstable
footing is tiring to walk on and easy to fall on. Most groups can manage a short
section of unstable footing with the use of extra energy and extra concentration.
When these sections become longer, energy gets used up, concentration wanes, and
so the chance of an accident increases significantly.
l) Fresh Water. Open water is a major source of risk in natural environments. It may
even be the greatest source of risk. Class 1 terrain tries to exclude the possibility of
drowning by excluding still and slow moving water deep enough to drown in and
flowing water that can sweep you away.
m) Tidal Water. The intertidal zone and places close to it can be very hazardous and the
danger is often very hard for the inexperienced person to see. Only those places
where there is no surge, where rising tides cannot cut you off from safe terrain, and
there is no possibility of a slip into the ocean, are included in Class 1 terrain.
n) Weather Exposure. Weather is a highly unpredictable factor that can seriously
impact your event. We will discuss protecting ourselves against weather in the next
chapter, but even with this protection, prolonged exposure to a storm can have serious
consequences. In particular, if we get wet, we may get cold. If it is windy we will get
colder faster. Thunderstorms expose us to the possibility of lightning strikes. We can
reduce the impacts of bad weather by retreating out of the wind and away from the
places most likely to be hit by lightning.
o) Navigation. Getting lost has many potentially serious consequences including the
possibility that you may stray into more complex and dangerous terrain. ‘Staying
found’ can require having a high level of navigational ability. However, in Class 1
terrain, a simple trail/site map will be sufficient for you to find your trail/position.
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The Hiking Terrain Matrix
(Note: Definitions for Class 2 and 3 terrain are provisional
and are only included for reference)
Risk Factor
Distance to
additional
resources at
road or lodge
Class 1
Class 2
Class 3
No more than 3 hrs to
trailhead.
Multiple days, but 8 hrs.
hike to base.
No Limit.
Fall Exposure
Easily managed or
avoidable.
Fall hazard exists but
manageable with
moderate consequence.
Short sections with
unavoidable & serious
consequence, but can be
managed without a rope.
Technical
Difficulty
Smooth & Easy.
Sections of unstable
footing are short &
isolated.
Talus and loose footing,
some rough sections,
trails may be poorly
maintained.
Use of hands may be
required. Fixed hand
lines or chains may be
present. May be
sustained sections of
unstable footing.
Fresh Water
25cm deep for
stationary/slow moving
and 15cm for fast
moving with no downwater hazards.
25-50cm deep for slow
moving and 15-30cm for
fast moving with no
down-water hazards.
50cm+ deep for slow
moving and 30cm+ for
fast moving with downwater hazards.
Tidal Water
Gently sloping and nonslippery intertidal zone.
No surge.
Surge channels and tidal
entrapment easily
avoided. Moderate wave
hazard may exist.
Moderately sloping. Some
slipping hazard.
Surge channels, tidal
entrapment and wave
hazards may be present.
Steeply sloping, rocky,
and slippery intertidal
zone.
Weather
Exposure
Generally sheltered, or
easy retreat to shelter.
May be exposed but can
retreat to shelter within 45
minutes.
Exposed areas with
difficult or no retreat.
Navigation
On trails, or untracked
with natural boundaries
and/or handrails.
Simple route choices.
May require a compass
and/or GPS.
Complicated navigation,
difficult route finding or
minimal landmarks.
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Chapter 4
Pre-Event Planning (Hazards and Defenses)
Compared to many other sports paddling in a Low Risk Water Environment or hiking in
Class 1 Hiking terrain are low risk activities, but there are still risks. As leaders, it is our
responsibility to anticipate these risks as best we can, and take appropriate measures to
reduce them to an acceptable level. This chapter will talk about some of the principles
and techniques used in this process.
Hazard and Mitigation Factors
A hazard is anything that might give rise to a negative consequence for our group. Wind
is a typical summer hazard. There could be many consequences of being caught in a
strong wind event. This could range from increased physical exertion to move the boats,
to life-threatening hypothermia, loss of effective communication between paddlers,
capsized boats, etc.
A hazard defense is anything that reduces the consequence to our group if we become
involved with the hazard, or prevents us from being exposed to the hazard at all. Boat
control skills are a defense that helps reduce the risk of capsizing. Staying close to shore
is a defense that reduces the hypothermia hazard associated with capsizing.
Vulnerability and Resilience
Our vulnerability is the degree to which we can be affected by a hazard. For instance,
children are typically more vulnerable to hypothermia when they get wet after capsizing
than are adults.
Our resilience is our ability to respond to unexpected adversity in ways that reduce the
consequences of that adverse situation. In many ways resilience is just the opposite of
vulnerability. For example, a person with rain gear is more resilient to the consequences
of rain than a person without rain gear.
Since the risk of being adversely affected by any one of a multitude of hazards during our
event can never be reduced to zero, a key risk-reduction strategy is to identify potential
hazards, recognize our level of vulnerability to those hazards, and plan so that we can
increase our resilience to them.
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Good Planning Creates Resilience
Choosing a lee-side water environment on a windy day not only increases our resilience
to capsizing, but it also increases our groups’ resilience to psychological harm that might
result from a cold and exhausting day out in the full force of the wind. A good defense
adds to our resilience in unexpected ways. Since accidents happen when the unexpected
happens, the group that has a network of good defenses will be more resilient to the
unexpected. A well planned, appropriately equipped, and well led event leads to a
resilient group that has an excellent chance of surviving the unexpected without harm.
Measuring Risk
Every accident that ever happened could have been avoided had people made different
decisions. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the people who had those accidents were
foolish. We experience risk because we are not able to predict all possible outcomes from
our decisions, and sometimes things do not work out as we hoped they would. Accidents
can and do happen to everyone.
While accidents can and do happen to everyone, we can plan to reduce risk. It is useful to
know that there is a standard way of measuring risk:
The Size of a Risk = Probability (of the event) x Consequence (of the event)
We can reduce risk by either reducing the probability of something going wrong, or by
reducing the consequences if it does go wrong. For example, we can reduce the
probability of being involved in a bad rainstorm by reading the weather forecast and
canceling our event if it looks like it is going to rain hard. If we decide the weather looks
good enough to go and the weather forecast is wrong, we can reduce the consequences by
having good rain gear.
Reducing Risk by Reducing Complexity
As we have already mentioned, risk occurs because we cannot possibly predict all
possible outcomes from our decisions.
However, the more skilled and experienced we are in a particular environment, the better
able we are to predict outcomes, and so we become better at reducing the chance of a
serious mistake. On the other hand the more complex the environment, the harder it is to
predict outcomes, and the more skill and experience we need to lead an event there.
This course is designed to train you to the degree that you will be able to lead a youth
group into a Low Risk Water Environment or into Class 1 Hiking Terrain. This
environment has been defined so that:
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Many types of natural hazards don’t exist there – so you don’t need any
specialized training to manage them.
-
Where a natural hazard exists, the Leadership Level 1 Leader should be able to
predict and/or manage it well.
-
If an unforeseen event occurs, the Leadership Level 1 Leader will still have a
good chance of managing things so as to keep the long-term consequences small.
If you go into more complex water and/or hiking environments, without additional
training and experience that has been validated as sufficient by other respected outdoor
leaders, then there is a good chance that you are exposing your group to an unacceptable
level of risk.
Reducing Risk by Recognizing the Hazards and Building Resiliency to Them
Risk will be our constant companion, not just on our events, but also throughout our
endeavours. Our job for the hazard management part of event planning is to navigate the
path through a 4-step process:
1) Correctly identify the likely hazards – what things might go wrong?
2) Correctly assess our vulnerability to those hazards, i.e. what will the possible
consequence be for us if something happens?
3) Correctly identify the appropriate defenses that will either help us avoid those
hazards, and/or build our resilience to them.
4) Plan and prepare accordingly.
An Important Note about the Nature of Risk
Before we begin the process of hazard management, we need to be clear that this process
is not about reducing risk to zero. That is not possible.
If risk can’t be eliminated, one might think that the right course of action is to do
whatever it takes to reduce the risk to a minimum, but that isn’t correct either. Every
defense we build carries costs. These costs will be things like the planning effort
required, the financial cost, the cost of too heavy a boat full of gear, etc. Eventually,
adding too many defenses will make our event impossible and then it can never deliver
the benefits it was run for in the first place.
Our goal is to match the defenses to the risk the hazard presents. Where the risk is
greater, you need better defenses, but where it is less you need fewer defenses. If the risk
is very small you may need no special provisions at all.
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Quiz 4a)
a) Good planning will eliminate risk.
True  False 
b) If a risk exists you should make every effort to prevent it from impacting your
event.
True  False 
c) You should try to match the size of your defense to the size of the risk.
True  False 
d) Many types of hazards do not exist in Low Risk Water Environments and Class 1
Hiking Terrain, so you do not need to include risk management in your event
planning.
True  False 

e) What two factors are considered when measuring the size of a risk?
1. ___________________________
2. ____________________________
Low Risk Natural Environments Hazards
Low Risk Natural Environments are places where the sorts of accidents that result in
serious injury or death are extremely rare. However, ‘minor’ physical and psychological
injuries are quite common. As these injuries are ‘minor’, it is easy to discount them, but
collectively these ‘minor’ issues are a big deal for two reasons:
1) The risk equation tells us that risk = probability x consequence. This means that if
minor injuries are common, then even though the consequence of each one is
small, the risk may be quite high.
2) When we talk about risk in natural environments we tend to focus on physical
risk. This is because physical injuries are ‘in your face’ since they are easy to see
and measure, they create paperwork, and are more likely to result in a lawsuit. As
leaders we need to be equally concerned about psychological injury. You will
never be sued for giving a participant such a horrible experience that they resolve
to never go paddling and/or hiking again. You may not even know that your event
has had such a profoundly negative effect on their life, but this sort of injury is
common, serious, and mostly avoidable though good planning and leadership.
As we prepare to identify and defend against hazards, it is useful to think about hazards
as being grouped into two types: those that originate in the environment, and those that
originate in the person.
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Environmental Hazards - Introduction
Although Low Risk Natural Environments are comparatively relatively safe places, there
are still environmental hazards that need to be managed. These include weather effects,
wild animals, and physical injury.
Low Risk Natural Environments are very different environments. The way in which
environmental hazards interact with these two environments to create a threat to your
group also varies. For example, a moderate wind may present no great threat to a hiking
group but may create dangerous conditions for a paddling group.
In particular, note that Class 1 Hiking terrain has very stringent restrictions on water
depth. This is because water that is deep enough to drown in can be a real hazard for the
unprepared hiker. Deep water is manageable on a paddling trip because appropriate
defenses are employed.
The Paddling Leader encounters the interface between hiking terrain and deep water
every day and needs to be careful to ensure that everyone in the group is in paddling
mode when in that transition zone.
Water Hazards
Water can be a very unforgiving medium, and water environments can change their
character very quickly. This is why the restrictions on flat and flowing water are so
stringent for Class 1 Hiking Terrain. However, the Paddling Leader must engage water
directly and so needs to be aware of and alert for water hazards and how they may affect
the group.
a) Drowning: This is the most serious hazard that you will face in water environments.
If we use the risk equation, the consequence is extremely high so if even if the
probability is small, the risk is still significant. This risk can be reduced to near zero
by ensuring that every member of the group, including you is wearing a properly
fitted and approved Personal Flotation Device (PFD). Many water environments
appear quite benign, but many have drowned in situations where the threat appeared
to be very remote. Factors to consider include:
- When immersed in cold water, people lose their ability to defend themselves very
quickly. Being a strong swimmer does not help, and in fact the fit person can
actually succumb to hypothermia more quickly than an overweight person.
- While a trained person can put on their PFD after they have fallen in the water
when the water is warm, cold water can make this impossible within a few
minutes.
- If a participant falls into the water, either off the shore or out of a paddle craft
there is the possibility of a head injury that could leave them unconscious. If they
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are not wearing a PFD they will not stay floating very long and could drown
extremely fast.
If a person panics they can drown even in standing height water. Even strong
swimmers can panic if they are psychologically overwhelmed by the situation.
Any situation where a head injury is possible could lead to a person drowning if
they lose consciousness.
The young are particularly vulnerable. Being shorter they get ‘in over their heads’
more easily; they are more likely to panic; and they are less likely to realize a
dangerous situation is evolving.
Because of these complications, the OCC recommends that everyone should wear a
PFD in any situation where drowning is possible unless the following situations
apply:
i.
An activity, such as swimming, does not permit wearing a PFD. In which case
a protocol similar to the OCC ‘Non-PFD Water Access Procedures’ should be
in place (Appendix E)
ii.
An activity can be conducted while wearing a PFD, but is significantly
compromised by wearing one. In this case the ‘OCC PFD Protocol’
(Appendix F) should be consulted to discover if the PFD may be not worn.
Finally, all major waterways and the ocean are under federal jurisdiction and the
Federal Government requires that every vessel be equipped with a PFD for every
passenger. While this law does not apply to water bodies under municipal, provincial
or private jurisdiction, it only makes sense to follow the same policy.
b) Wet Gear and Clothing: In the event of a capsize, it is possible to get all of your
equipment soaking wet. If the weather is nice and hot, and being wet to cool off isn’t
a problem, then this is not serious. But if the weather is cold, windy and rainy and a
participant capsizes then you need things like warm dry spare clothes, emergency
shelter, first aid kit and fire starters. As a leader, make sure that your own gear, the
group emergency gear and your groups’ dry spare change of clothes are waterproofed
in some fashion for the duration of your activity on the water, and that that gear stays
dry. Wet and Dry suits also increase your groups resilience. They increase the time
that you need to get everyone to shore and back into dry clothes.
c) Submerged Hazards: Things like dead trees (dead heads) or submerged man-made
structures can pose a variety of hazards to your group, but in general, a participant
hitting one of them with their boat could mean anything from a damaged boat to a
capsize. You will need to spend some time teaching your participants how to identify
and avoid these types of hazards.
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Shore Hazards
Because of the seriousness of drowning and/or hypothermia it is easy to overlook the
hazards that the shore itself can present. This transition between land and water could
have features that make it easy for an injury to occur. These features include steeply
sloping surfaces, short drops, slippery/vegetated surfaces, and sharp rocks. The chance of
injury can increase by having to carry boats or other equipment through this transition
space. These hazards can be mitigated by:
a) Choosing put-ins/pull-outs that are easy for people to navigate.
b) Making a plan as to how you will manage the group during the transition to
and/or from the water, and make sure everyone knows what the plan is.
c) Reminding/alerting your group about the specific hazards that the environment
presents.
d) Making sure there are enough people to manage awkward or heavy loads, and that
they know how to work as a team. Each person should be briefed on how to avoid
injury in this scenario.
e) Considering having yourself or another person remain detached from any work so
that they can monitor progress and intervene if an unsafe situation starts to
develop.
f) Having people wear protective equipment (such as gloves, lugged shoes, long
pants, etc.) for particularly difficult transition areas.
Weather Hazards
Historically, weather has been a major factor in most serious accidents that have
happened in natural areas. Weather can cause serious injury or death even in Low Risk
Natural Environments. We can defend ourselves from weather in two ways: we can avoid
extreme weather by canceling our event or turning back early and/or we can take
equipment that protects us against the effects of strong weather.
Major weather factors to consider are:
a) Rain: Rain can be a hazard to both paddlers and hikers because it can result in people
getting wet and cold. Rain is often accompanied by wind and colder weather, which
are the perfect ingredients for hypothermia. Rain also makes trails and rocky shores
slippery, and reduces visibility particularly in paddling environments. When planning
for rain, consider the following:
- Remember that weather forecasts are not completely reliable predictors of the
possibility or severity of rain. For that reason, you must plan for a severe
rainstorm, even if one appears to be unlikely.
- Consider cancelling an event if the forecast indicates that there will be enough
rain to result in people getting seriously wet and cold. The level at which this call
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-
-
-
-
will be made should take into account the vulnerability of the group. Vulnerability
is influenced by the age of the participants, the quality of their rain gear, and their
level of experience with natural environments.
You can defend against rain by making sure everyone has appropriate rain gear.
The quality of this gear will influence how much protection your group gets. For
this reason, you will need to take this into account when planning your event.
Where your event will take you further from a warm dry environment, quality rain
gear for everyone is absolutely essential.
The quality of the rest of a person’s clothing is also a factor. In particular, if
participants are wearing cotton, they are very vulnerable to rain. Even good rain
gear will not keep the water out completely, so for events that take you further
from a warm, dry environment you will need to consider how effectively the
participants' clothing will keep them warm once it is wet.
If your event takes place very close to a warm, dry environment, then rain gear
may not be essential, but that will mean that your event may have to be cancelled
or cut short if it rains.
Since rain can make trails, and put-ins and pull-outs slick – good footwear is an
essential. Ideally this footwear should be close-toed and provide warmth for the
feet (i.e. neoprene for paddlers), but at the very least it should have a lugged sole
that will grip on slimy and muddy surfaces.
b) Cold and Hypothermia: The Leadership Level 1 (Paddling + Hiking) course will
prepare you for land and water-based activities in natural environments providing the
temperatures are relatively warm. Additional training is required for winter events.
However, even in mid-summer, the weather can be cold in Canada, and rain or wind
will only worsen this cold. Obviously, everyone in your group needs to have
sufficient clothing to protect against the cold. This may include a hat, gloves and an
extra warm layer.
If it looks like your event will take place in cool or cold weather, you also need to
make sure that everyone brings extra clothing. Typically people bring enough clothes
to keep warm while moving, but if you have to stop for a long time they will quickly
become cold. You may not be planning to have such a long stop, but you need to be
prepared anyway just in case you have a medical emergency that immobilizes one of
the group.
In Low Risk Water Environments the chance of participants getting cold is increased
by the possibility that they might get wet either intentionally or unintentionally during
the course of the activity. When people get cold they become more vulnerable to
other hazards and they may also become hypothermic. Hypothermia is a serious
condition that can result in death. Beyond warm clothing, the following points should
be taken into account regarding defenses against cold and hypothermia:
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-
-
-
-
If your activity plan includes participants swimming or otherwise getting wet in
colder weather everyone needs to have clothing and equipment (i.e. neoprene
wetsuits) that will allow them to regulate their body temperature during the
activity. In general it is never a good idea to plan for a group to spend much time
in cold water, or in the water in cold weather. Have a plan for how you will get
the group warm and dry after the activity has finished.
If your activity plan does not include getting wet, you still need to make sure you
have the ability to evacuate your group to a warm dry place quickly in the event
they get wet anyway.
Wet or Dry suits maybe appropriate to prevent Immersion Hypothermia if a
participant might have the possibility of ending up in the water.
Immersion Hypothermia starts at an air temperature plus water temperature of
colder than 38 degrees Celsius. Immersion Hypothermia, like land-based
hypothermia can be mild or severe. In severe hypothermia the person must be
evacuated to a hospital.
Mild immersion hypothermia - less than 20 minutes in still water
less than 7 minutes in moving water
Severe immersion hypothermia - more than 20 minutes in still water
more than 7 minutes in moving water1
It is important to evacuate the person if they have experienced the potential for
severe hypothermia even if they look “okay” They could be at risk for severe
complications.
c) Wind: Wind can be a powerful force. Wind not only wicks away heat but can also be
very tiring and confusing for your participants. Where strong winds are mixed with
cold or rain, as they often are, they can create a very challenging environment. Issues
with this sort of environment include:
- Wind cools participants quickly
- Hiking in an overpowering wind is very tiring.
- Strong winds can topple trees or blow down branches creating dangerous
situations for your group
- On water strong winds can:
 Carry boats long distances in a relatively short amount of time and/or make it
impossible for people to steer their boats effectively. Under these conditions
participants can quickly become exhausted and your group could end up
dangerously far from shore, driven onto a dangerous shoreline, or into busy
boat traffic lanes.
1
From: Anna Christensen. Beyond help: Explorer First Aid. (2008).
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

Cause boats to capsize by blowing them over or by creating large and/or
choppy waves.
Make it difficult for the group to stay together and may reduce your ability to
communicate with your group. Teaching paddle signals to your group and
using them can be a good defense against loss of communication on the water.
Defenses include:
- A windproof outer shell and clothing
- On land, trees will provide shelter but not during extreme winds. Consider
canceling a hiking event if exceptionally strong winds are forecast.
- Choosing a venue where you will be protected from the wind or, on water, where
the expected winds tend to push you toward a safe shore.
- Consider canceling the event if strong winds are forecast.
- Becoming knowledgeable about what sort of weather creates dangerous winds in
your area.
- Monitoring the weather continuously, even on good weather days.
d) Thunderstorms: Thunderstorms can happen at any time of the day, but are usually
an afternoon and evening phenomenon. They are also quite unpredictable, so even if
the weather forecast does not mention thunderstorms, you should be alert to the
possibility that you may encounter them. Since heavy rain and wind are features of
thunderstorms, our defenses include good rain and wind equipment. However, a
lightning strike is a particularly dangerous feature of thunderstorms. Lightning kills
Canadians every year. Fortunately, we can defend ourselves against lightning strikes
by recognizing and avoiding high-risk areas. In general, the electricity in lightning is
seeking the shortest route between the ground and the sky so:
On Land:
- Avoid ridge crests and especially small summits on ridge crests.
- Avoid flat and open areas, since you may be the highest thing in that open area.
- If you are stuck in an open area, lie down on the ground.
- Don’t tuck yourself up against cliffs or isolated trees. In particular, do not shelter
in caves. There tends to be arcing around these spots if they get hit. In addition, a
tree that is struck may fall. Stay about 10 meters away.
On Water:
- Do not put your group on the water if it looks like a thunderstorm is developing,
or keep them a short, manageable distance from a pull-out.
- If you are on the water and thunderstorms are approaching you need to monitor
how far away they are by counting the seconds between ‘flash and crash’ of a
lightning strike and the resulting thunder. You need to off the water by the time
this interval is 30 seconds or less.
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-
-
-
-
Once you are on shore, avoid flat and open areas, since you may be the highest
thing in that open area. Dry land is still safer than water, so in treeless/featureless
terrain what you are looking for is shallow depressions or valleys in the terrain.
Dense tress are relatively safe places to be, but don’t tuck yourself up against
isolated trees or trees that are taller than surrounding trees. These stand-out trees
and their immediate area are more likely to be hit by lightning.
Do not shelter in caves or up against cliffs. There tends to be arcing around these
spots if lightning strikes nearby.
Once in your chosen spot, get people low to the ground. Sitting on a pack, pad or
PFD is a good option.
Spread people out so that if there is a ground arc only a few people will be
affected. 10 meters apart would be appropriate, but make sure there is still verbal
contact between members of your group.
A good rule of thumb is to wait for 30 minutes after the last close lightning strike
before getting back on the water.
Remember that both metal and water are excellent conductors of lightning. Many
organizations use paddles that have metal shafts and may also use metal boats. When
you are out on the water you are sitting on top of the best conductor around. Stopping
progress along your route and having to pull your group off the water will likely
conflict with your plans for the day. This kind of situation will test the resiliency of
your group and your leadership, since some of your participants may become fearful
when they hear thunder or see lightning. In this situation your group will need you to
stay calm and have a plan to get your group to a safe spot.
When making a decision to get back on the water after seeing lightning or hearing
thunder, use the following rule of thumb; after you hear thunder or see lightning, look
at your watch and note the time. If 30 minutes passes with no further lightning or
thunder then it is generally considered safe to get back on the water. If during the 30
minutes there is more lightning or thunder, restart the countdown.
e) Snow and Ice: Although this course is designed to prepare you for ‘warm weather’,
snow and ice can linger on the trail in spring in some areas, and during the fall, icy
conditions can occur overnight after a freeze. If icing conditions are widespread, you
will need to cancel your event, since good footwear is not an effective protection and
a fall on flat ground can result in serious injury. If the icy section is only short, group
management is your most effective tool to manage the hazard. This means taking the
time to:
- Ensure everyone is aware of the ice and is aware that they need to take extra care.
- For those with poor balance, you may need to physically support them as they
cross an icy patch.
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f) Heat: Heat can be a serious issue in summer since it can lead to heat stroke and heat
exhaustion. Heat stroke in particular is a dangerous condition that can lead to death.
Defense against excessive heat includes:
- Seeking shade wherever possible.
- Drinking plenty of water and drinking often.
- Wearing light colored clothing.
- Avoiding strenuous exercise.
- Being alert to signs of people developing heat stroke or heat exhaustion, and
know the difference.
- Being aware that people in poor physical condition are more vulnerable to heat
stroke and heat exhaustion.
- Knowing how to treat both conditions.
- Wearing a sun hat.
Be prepared to cancel your event if it does not seem to be compatible with high
temperatures.
g) Sun: In addition to heat issues, UV light from the sun can cause serious burns.
Burning can occur during partial overcast conditions. Take and use sunscreen. The
use of screened lip slave may be required, especially when on the water. If paddling,
your group may not have experience with the extra reflection in a water environment,
so you may need to remind them of the places they are unlikely to put sunscreen
(bottoms of arms, underside of chin, etc.) to prevent predictable paddling sunburns.
Ensure participants have sunglasses that protect from UV rays.
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Quiz 4b)
a) Good defenses against wind include non-verbal signals, warm clothing, and a
good “Plan B”.
True  False 
b) If you aren’t on the ocean, you never need to worry about waves impacting your
event.
True  False 
c) Open water is a bad place to be in a thunderstorm.
True  False 
d) You should not tuck up to trees and cliffs during an electrical storm because if
lightning strikes close it may arc to you.
True  False 
e) Sunscreen is not needed on cloudy days, especially on the water.
True  False 
f) Heat can be uncomfortable, but high temperatures would never be a reason to
cancel or modify an event.
True  False 
g) Extra layers of clothing are necessary in cold weather when one is not hiking or
paddling consistently.
True  False 
h) Good defenses against rain include lug soled boots, rainwear, and synthetic or
wool clothing.
True 
False 
i) If you are hiking in trees you need never worry about strong wind impacting your
event.
True  False 
j) Ridge crests and flat open areas are bad places to be in an electrical storm.
True  False 
Wildlife Hazards
While there are many types of plants and animals in natural environments that can cause
us harm, most can be managed quite easily. Canada has a wide variety of ecosystems, and
since only a few of the more common wildlife hazards will be covered here, you will
need to research the area you are going to for additional information. Since shorelines are
the place where water meets land, the chance of encountering these animals during your
events while they are just out to get a drink of water is quite good. It can be a wonderful
and special experience to see a grizzly bear or an elk while you are out on the water in
your boats, and a terrifying experience for a participant to run into one of these animals
while they are on land taking a bathroom break. Ultimately all paddling events will start
and end on a shoreline and so planning to minimize your exposure to these wildlife
hazards should be a part of your plan.
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a) Large animals: Many people don’t like to go to wild areas because of their fear of
large animals, particularly bears and cougars. This fear is largely unjustified. Large
animals certainly can be dangerous, but attacks are rare and good practices can
virtually eliminate the risk:
-
Bears: Fortunately, neither black bears nor grizzly bears will attack a large group.
However, your large group will only be protected if they stay together. Bears are
less intimidated by children than they are by adults. A group of four adults is
generally thought to be safe. Younger (smaller) children need to be accompanied
by at least one adult in close proximity. Leaders of youth groups in bear country
should carry bear spray and/or bear bangers.
-
Cougars: Cougar attacks appear to be on the increase, but are still quite rare. Once
again they tend to avoid large groups and larger people. Cougars will not risk a
frontal attack, unless cornered, but could seek a quick kill from behind. Since
cougars are more likely to see small children as prey don’t let small children
wander alone when on land and when hiking the last person in the group should
be a tall person.
-
Elk, moose, deer, etc.: Large herbivores are at least as dangerous as predators.
However, they do not attack unless they feel threatened or challenged. Give all
large herbivores a lot of space (100 + meters), particularly males during the
rutting season or females with calves.
b) Bugs: Otherwise well-planned events will be remembered by your group as miserable
if they spend all of their energy fighting off the bugs instead of participating in the
activities you have planned. If the bugs are going to be bad at your venue, you should
consider some form of bug repellant (bug spray) or deterrent (long pants, long sleeved
shirts) in your plans for the day. Ensure that you know whether or not any member of
your group is allergic to specific bugs and be prepared for adverse reactions.
c) Aquatic Wildlife: Many water environments are teeming with life, and most of this
aquatic life poses no threat to your group or your plans. However in certain parts of
Canada swimming can bring your group into contact with harmful animals or
organisms. You will need to research the area you are going to for additional
information.
-
Leeches, while harmless, can cause significant psychological distress especially in
groups where the participants are younger and/or have never had a leech on them.
Remaining calm and removing the leech quickly and effectively helps reduce the
psychological distress.
-
Stinging jellyfish are present in the ocean in parts of Canada at certain times of
the year. While not fatal, the stings can be quite unpleasant and painful.
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Swimmers Itch is a condition that comes from water-borne micro-organisms and
is not harmful, but can be extremely unpleasant for participants who swim in
waters containing it. It is wise to plan to minimize your groups’ exposure to
swimmers itch.
d) Wildlife-borne diseases: There are quite a number of serious diseases that can be
transmitted by wildlife. In particular:
-
Ticks can transmit a number of diseases. If there are ticks in your area everybody
needs to know how to check for ticks after your event. If a member of your group
is bitten, the tick should be removed appropriately and they need to be monitored
for signs of infection. If possible send the tick in for testing to determine if it
carries Lyme disease. Know how to safely remove an embedded tick, in case it
happens during your event.
-
Rabies can be transmitted through the bite of a wild mammal. The disease is
always fatal once symptoms appear, therefore anyone bitten by a wild animal
must be vaccinated promptly.
-
Some mosquitoes can transmit West Nile Virus. While most people experience no
or non-serious symptoms, some will experience fever and/or severe headaches
and/or a rash. On rare occasions a person may experience high fever, worsening
headache, neck stiffness, disorientation, a coma, convulsions, etc. This worsening
condition can result in permanent disability or even death. A person with such
symptoms must be transported for medical attention.
e) Poisoning: Canada does not have many poisonous animals, however there are a few.
-
Snakes: The only poisonous snake in Canada is the rattlesnake. Its bite is serious
but rarely fatal, although children are more vulnerable than adults. They only
attack when threatened, so if you are in an area where they live, great care must
be taken to avoid disturbing them. Stay away from places like long grass, brush
and rocks, where they may be resting. Wear stout, high-sided shoes, and long
pants to help protect against a bite.
-
Poison ivy and poison oak are not deadly, but they are very unpleasant. The
effects are not noticed immediately, and so a contaminated hand can spread the
poison to the face or other people before it is noticed. The primary defense is
through recognition and avoidance.
People Hazards
Unexpected things can happen that have as much to do with our group as they do with the
natural environment. A medical condition can result in a medical emergency, and the way
our group works together can result in behaviour that leads to an accident.
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a) Medical conditions: You should find out ahead of time if any of your group has a
medical condition that might result in a sudden emergency. Some of these conditions,
like allergies, might be triggered by something in the environment. If such a condition
exists, make sure you know how to recognize when it is starting and know how to
respond. You might need to carry special medication.
b) Trips and Falls: Many people have little experience of walking on uneven terrain
and such people can fall in unexpected places.
c) Group dynamics: People are complicated. Every group is different and surprising
things can happen when people interact. Your primary defenses will be a wellplanned event, and being observant of your group’s behaviour on the trail.
d) Paddling Skills & Capsizing: Most participants should be able to go on a wellplanned paddling event and not end up capsizing unless it was part of the plan. The
boats that most organizations use for young people are generally stable and forgiving,
and require some effort by the paddlers to capsize. However in some occasions
paddlers will capsize their boats and need rescue. As a leader you should have the
skills and experience to quickly and safely get the boat emptied out and the paddler(s)
back into their boat. This is a defense against a number of hazards including
hypothermia and panic. Panicked swimmers can easily multiply if the first swimmer
tries to re-enter another boat whose paddlers are not prepared for that kind of rescue
maneuver.
e) Carrying Boats: When people carry boats to and from the water, they generally can’t
see their feet or what they are walking on very well, and if the ground they are
walking on is uneven, steep or slippery (as is often the case along the shoreline of a
water environment) they can fall and hurt themselves, twist ankles, strain their back,
or drop the boat on themselves and others. Boat carries need to be carefully organized
and supervised activities. Participants need to be taught how to work as a team and
how to lift and move the boat safely. Inform them that if they do lose balance they
should drop the boat and “save themselves, not the boat”.
f) Transportation Hazards: On average, the most hazardous part of your trip will be
getting to the trailhead. If you are not using a reputable transportation company, make
sure your driver is aware of his/her responsibilities and has professional training.
Matching the Defenses to the Hazards
Early in this chapter we said ‘Our goal is to match the defenses to the risk the hazard
presents’. Fortunately, there are standard equipment lists that will help you organize your
plan (see Appendices A & B). However, not all equipment is equal. The range of quality
can be quite astonishing. Poor quality gear may provide much less defense than you
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might anticipate. A child wearing cotton clothing who is wearing a leaky rain jacket will
get wet very quickly and cold very soon after that.
If you are relying on the participants to supply their own gear you need to take this into
account. For example, if rain coats are required for your event, as they always will be for
one that goes very far from the put-in, you will have to ensure that everyone comes with
one that will actually keep them dry for a while. If that is not possible, then you will have
to scale back your event so that if it does rain you will be able to make it to shelter before
the participants get wet.
Quiz 4c)
a) Bears can’t swim, so you never need to worry about them when paddling on the
water, or on islands.
True  False 
b) You should leave plenty of room between yourself and all wild animals.
True  False 
c) Deer, moose and elk are not dangerous unless you stand right behind them (where
you might get kicked).
True  False 
d) Groups larger than four adults are generally thought to be safe from bears; if your
group includes children, they should always have an adult in close proximity.
True  False 
e) Getting a leech on you is no big deal, so tell participants who freak out to “grow
up” if this happens.
True  False 
f) Poisonous animals and plants are not common in Canada, so you need not worry
about them.
True  False 
g) Children who are well-behaved in the classroom can be expected to be wellbehaved on the water.
True  False 
h) The quality of your participants’ outdoor gear must be taken into account when
planning your activity.
True  False 
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Chapter 5
Pre-Event Planning (Team Building)
So far we have talked a lot about the preparations that you need to do to ensure that you
have the right activity, venue, and gear for your event, but you are often not working
alone. In addition to your participants and co-leaders there are many other people who
have a stake in your event. Each will have different needs that you will have to satisfy if
they are going to be able to do their part in making your event a success. You could look
at this as just an organizational exercise, but you will have much more success if you
treat this process as team building.
Team Building
A group of people working together as a team can accomplish much more than the same
collection of individuals merely working together on the same task. A key difference
between a collection of individuals and a team is that on a team everyone is working
toward a common goal that everyone believes is worth achieving.
Team building starts with a process where good communication between the team
members is directed at negotiating a common understanding of what the goal is, and an
agreement that the goal is worth achieving. The team becomes more cohesive and
committed when team members commit some of their time and energy to achieving the
goal. However, building commitment and cohesion is only possible to the degree that
there is an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect where everyone feels they are a valued
member of the team.
Team Building with the Field Team
Your field team includes you, your participants and any co-leaders. The success of your
event requires that each person understands their role and agrees to perform it to the best
of their ability. This means that at the very least you need to tell everyone what is
expected of them and then ensure that they have agreed to do it. To do this well, you
should consider the following:
i.
Communication is a two way process in which ‘hearing’ the message is at least
as important as ‘sending’ the message. As you inform your team about their roles
and responsibilities be sure to check that the message they receive was the one
you sent. When they agree to those things make sure that they are truly agreeing.
‘Yes’ does not mean ‘Yes’ if the person doesn’t understand what they are
agreeing to, or if they say ‘Yes’ because they know you won’t like ‘No’. To be
certain that they have understood and agreed you should consider this process to
be a dialogue.
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ii.
A Dialogue (in this context) is a conversation where you explore each others’
understanding of the matter, identify differences, and discover a mutually
acceptable understanding. This is a learning process for both parties. You will get
to know your field team better and you may discover things that will help you run
a better event. Not only will the rest of your team be better prepared to perform
their role, this process will help them learn and will increase their commitment to
performing their role. Commitment increases because instead of this being an
event provided for them by you, it becomes a project in which they have invested
through participation in the planning stage.
iii.
Personal investment in a project increases a person’s commitment to that project.
The more you can get your field team involved in the planning process, the better
results you will get. The distance that you go down this road depends on your
objectives. Experiential learning is a powerful form of learning but it is time
consuming. You could for instance work with your participants to have them
develop their own equipment list. This would take a lot of time, but you could
expect that they would show up very well equipped. On the other hand, you could
just give them an equipment list. That would be quick and efficient for you, but
you can expect at least some of them to show up without key items. Most often
you would choose a middle road.
What You Need to Cover
For your field team to be effective, participants and co-leaders need to know how to
prepare themselves for the day, what the goals are, and what their roles and
responsibilities are.
Informing your team concerning the equipment they will need, where and when to meet,
etc. usually involves sending out things like equipment lists and schedules. As discussed
above these lists may need to be supplemented with a dialogue ensuring that each person
knows exactly what is required of them.
Even if your goal for the day is a purely experiential paddle with a group of experienced
paddlers, you need to make sure that everyone knows and agrees with that. More often
you will have other goals for the event. It is essential that everyone is aware of them so
that they can prepare themselves mentally as well as physically. If there is any sort of
learning to be accomplished, your group will be more committed and learn better if they
know that in advance.
Finally, everyone needs to know what their roles and responsibilities are, and to agree to
them. No matter how organized you are, even one person who is unable or unwilling to
meet your expectations of them can seriously disrupt your day. This is particularly
important when considering your co-leaders.
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Team Building with your Participants
Your participants should also be part of the team-building process for your event. The
amount of information they need and the extent of their ability to participate in the event
planning will differ depending on the age of the participants. At the very least, they need
to be aware of the goals for the event, what the activities will be, and what is expected of
them during the event. If they are encouraged to participate in the process of planning
the event, they likely are to be more strongly invested in it, which should help ensure that
your goals for them will be met. They also need to know that you will be debriefing after
the event, so they will have a chance to reflect on the event, and share their feedback with
the group.
Team Building with Other Stakeholders
There are a surprisingly large number of other people who have a stake in your event.
They may include the parents of your group, your employer, the transportation company,
the owner of the land (land manager), and other organizations that run events at the same
place. A communication process needs to take place with these people too. In many cases
this too should be a team building exercise.
Parents
If you are leading minors, you will need formal permission from their parents or
guardians. For this permission to be valid you must fully inform them of what you will be
doing and any risks that you can foresee. You should also inform them of the benefits
that their child will receive. You should also try to engage them in the preparation for the
event. Their role is to support their child. For an older child that will mean providing the
resources that the child needs to prepare themselves, like the details for making a quality
lunch and buying a quality raincoat. For a younger child it might mean checking that they
have packed their lunch and raincoat.
The Sponsoring Organization
The organization you are working or volunteering for has considerable moral and legal
responsibilities relating to your event, and so they also have many obligations. Ideally
you will work together as a team, although we know that it does not always seem to be
that way. Some things to consider are:
a) The Organization’s Contribution: The organization provides many of the
resources that you need to hold your event. These resources include financial and
infrastructure support, insurance, permits, training, and supervision. While we can
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easily see the value in money, insurance, and permits, most prefer to not be
supervised. However, quality supervision provides us with guidance in ways that
help us grow into better leaders.
b) Communication: It is essential that you communicate effectively with the
organization. This may include verbal communication, but always involves
paperwork. Many dislike paperwork, but filling out paperwork completely and
accurately is an essential part of the job. If you fail to do your part well, the
organization cannot do their part either. When the organization/leader team fails
to work well it will always end up damaging your program, and can result in very
serious consequences.
c) Dialogue with your organization is an important part of building this team too.
Effective dialogue includes good listening skills, and good listening skills require
a committed effort to trying to understand the other person’s point of view. You
have a right to expect this from your organization, but even if it seems lacking,
you have an obligation to try to understand and respect their position.
Other Stakeholders
Most typically, communication with other stakeholders, like a bus company or land
manager, will require less team building effort. However the success of this event will
require that you provide them with the information they require in a timely manner, and
that you make yourself aware of their needs. For example, a land manager may put
certain restrictions on your permit and failure to comply might result in a loss of future
privileges. Be aware that you are also a representative of your organization, and that your
actions may have consequences for the organization and/or your co-workers.
Quiz 5
a) Good team building increases commitment, event quality, and safety.
True  False 
b) Everybody on your team needs to have a clear understanding of their roles and
responsibilities for your event.
True  False 
c) As you are the expert it is your job to convince your participants to fit in with your
plan to ensure the success of your event.
True  False 
d) Encouraging your group to plan part of the event increases learning but will
undermine your authority.
True  False 
e) Effective communication with your sponsoring organization is an essential part of
planning for your event, despite the amount of paperwork involved
True  False 
f) For youth, the role of the parent is dependent on the child’s age.

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True  False 
45
Chapter 6
Environmental Responsibility
The environmental integrity of the areas we visit is a key resource for our programs and
we need to be responsible users and custodians of these places. The ways in which we
demonstrate our relationship to and respect for the natural environment will influence the
ways our participants behave. It is our responsibility to ensure that we, and our
participants, understand how to behave so as to protect our environment.
Leave No Trace Canada is an organization that promotes the ‘seven principles of leave no
trace’. The first of these principals is ‘Plan Ahead and Prepare’. As a graduate of this
course you should have the skills to do exactly this. Part of that planning should include a
consideration of how your trip could impact the environment.
The Leave No Trace principles should not be interpreted by either your leadership team
or your participants as a set of “rules”; they are meant to be a set of ethics that guide our
actions in the outdoors. If you approach the teaching of these principles from an
education perspective rather than a ‘rules’ perspective, your participants may be more
impacted by them. Always be ready to explain your actions. Lead by example and give
reasons for why you do what you do in the outdoors. This can be a powerful educational
experience for your participants (and your leadership team, if they are not experienced in
the outdoors).
The following guidelines have been adapted for use in this manual from materials
provided by Leave No Trace Canada (http://www.leavenotrace.ca). Leave No Trace
Skills and Ethics booklets are available for a more complete discussion of the following
principles (visit the website for more details).
The Seven Principles of Leave No Trace
1) Plan Ahead and Prepare
-
Know the regulations and special concerns for the area you'll visit.
Prepare for extreme weather, hazards and emergencies.
Schedule your event to avoid times of high use.
Scout your route to avoid getting lost.
Ensure that the group’s experience and skills match the requirements of the
activity
2) Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
-
Durable surfaces include established trails, rock, gravel, or dry grasses.
Never alter a site to suit your needs.
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In popular areas
- Use the trails around put-ins, pull-outs and other facilities, even when wet or
muddy.
- Focus activity in areas where vegetation is absent.
In pristine areas
- Disperse use to prevent the creation of trails.
- Avoid places where impacts are just beginning.
3) Dispose of Waste Properly
- Pack it in, pack it out. Inspect your rest areas for garbage or spilled foods. Pack
out all garbage, leftover food and litter.
- Use toilets where available. If not, deposit solid human waste in ‘cat holes’ dug
15 to 20 cm deep at least 60 m from water, camp and trails. Cover and disguise
the cat hole when finished.
- Pack out toilet paper and hygiene products.
- Avoid polluting water. On a one-day event there should be no need to wash
yourself.
4) Leave What You Find
-
Preserve the past, observe but do not touch cultural or historic structures and
artifacts.
Leave rocks, plants and other natural objects as you find them.
Avoid introducing or transporting non-native species.
Do not build structures, rock cairns, or use flagging or marking paint.
5) Minimize Campfire Impacts
-
Where fires are permitted, use established fire rings, fire pans or mound fires.
Fires should not be lit on any type of vegetated surface, to avoid the risk of the
fire spreading; put them only bare mineral soil
Keep fires small. Only use sticks from the ground that can be broken by hand.
Burn all wood to ash, put out campfires completely, then scatter cool ashes.
Do not try to burn leftover food or other garbage that would have to be removed
later.
6) Respect Wildlife
-
Observe wildlife from a distance. Do not follow or approach them.
Never feed animals. Feeding wildlife damages their health, alters natural
behaviors, and exposes them to predators and other dangers.
Protect wildlife and your food by storing food and garbage securely.
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-
Pets should never be included in your event.
Avoid wildlife during sensitive times, such as when mating, nesting, raising
young, or during winter.
7) Be Considerate of Others
-
Respect others and protect the quality of their experience.
Be courteous.
Let nature's sounds prevail. Avoid loud voices and noises.
Quiz 6
a) When planning an event in an ecologically sensitive area, discussing special
considerations relating to the Leave No Trace ethic can be a team building
exercise.
True  False 
b) Teaching and practicing environmental responsibility is an essential part of our
leadership role.
True  False 
c) Making sure that you check weather forecasts and water conditions ahead of time
and making any necessary changes to your plans increases safety, the quality of
your event, and helps you meet your responsibilities to the environment.
True  False 
d) Keeping your distance from wildlife and keeping your food from them increases
both your safety and theirs.
True  False 
e) Established trails, dry grass, rock and gravel are all examples of durable surfaces.
True  False 
f) If no bathroom facilities exist, it is acceptable to dispose of human feces
anywhere, and leave toilet paper hidden underneath a rock or dead leaves.
True  False 
g) Flowers and other natural artifacts should be left where they are and studied in
place.
True  False 
h) Campfires are safe to light anyplace, as long as you put a ring of stones around
them.
True  False 
i) If members of your paddling group are widely spaced, it is a good idea to yell back
and forth as a means of communication.
True  False 
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Chapter 7
Last Minute Checks
During your pre-event planning you collected a great deal of information to help you turn
your initial vision into a concrete plan for the delivery of a great event. Now that you are
ready to put that plan into action, you will need to check that some of the background
conditions that support that plan have not changed. This is the point where you move
from planning to doing. Once you start ‘doing’, risk starts to appear as a real thing. These
risks include things that will derail your ability to achieve your goals, as well as physical
or psychological risks. This means that from now on you must monitor your group and
the natural environment, to detect any potential threats as soon as possible so that you can
change your plans to deal with them. The timing of these checks will relate to how long
you will need to put a backup plan into action.
A Week Before
The natural environment is in a constant state of change and the biggest and most
variable factor is the weather. Weather will of course be a big factor for the day of the
event, but it also has a big effect on the condition of the area you are planning to use.
If you will be hiking, you will need to check trail conditions in the days and weeks ahead
to make sure they are suitable for your event. If paddling your check can be made closer
to the day.
Weather forecasts are also getting much more accurate, so if unsuitable weather is
forecast for the day of your event, you need to be developing your backup plan. It is a
great pity if you have to cancel the day all together, and many cancellations happen
because of a weak backup plan. Since forecasts can be wrong, the best backup plan is one
that is prepared in such a way that you can switch to it at the last moment.
Since people are not entirely dependable, you might also want to make sure that your
group is on schedule with their personal preparations.
For some venues you may also need to check that there are no trail closures due to
wildlife concerns.
The Day Of
You will need to check the weather forecast first thing, and the more precise detail you
can gather, the better. Relying on a simplified forecast can set you up for a
disappointment. Weather can vary greatly over a short distance, so you need to be sure
you are making your decisions based on the weather for the field site. Many events have
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been mistakenly cancelled or given the go-ahead based on the weather at the starting
point instead of the at the field site. The timing of a weather system that is bringing bad
weather is often unclear from a public forecast.
If paddling, pay particular attention to the wind forecast. For some locations this may be
critical information that might have a big impact on your event.
It is essential to check that your group is ready. Part of this check will be of the people
themselves to make sure that nobody is sick or has a recent injury that may make it
difficult for them to perform their role. You may have to make the hard decision to ask a
person to not come if their condition will compromise the objectives for the group.
You must check that everyone has everything on the equipment list. For older and more
experienced participants this can be a verbal check. This is best done by reading the list
out loud and asking everyone to make a mental check that they have not forgotten
anything. For younger people and ‘first timers’ you may need to have them empty out
their bags for you to check. You will be checking for the quality as well as presence of
each item. If your time schedules are going to be tight, you might have the gear packed
and checked the night before.
Where you have co-leaders, you should schedule a face-to-face meeting with each other
where you review the plan and the roles and responsibilities people have. This meeting
should allow for a discussion of any concerns a leader may have.
The last minute checks form the transition between pre-event planning and the event
itself. If they are done poorly your well-planned event may well get off to a poor start and
this will make success more difficult to achieve.
The effects of essential equipment being forgotten, or discovering that the water is not in
condition after you get there are obvious. But you should also consider that if your trip
starts without a quality discussion between the leaders, or if you are stressed out tying up
details that should have been attended to sooner, you will be less able to manage the
global oversight that is your responsibility.
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Quiz 7
a) During the days prior to the event, you will need to keep a close eye on the
weather because weather can be a powerful force, is highly variable, and can have
a big impact on local conditions.
True  False 
b) Looking out of your window on the morning of your event will usually give you
your most reliable indications about the weather for the day.
True  False 
c) A solid back up plan can help you provide a good event even though the weather
makes the main event unavailable to you.
True  False 
d) When you have an experienced group and you have had excellent pre-event
communication, you can skip the equipment check on the morning of the event to
save time.
True  False 
e) A wind forecast (if available) is an excellent resource for paddler leaders when
getting closer to the day of the event.
True  False 

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Chapter 8
Group Management
Introduction
You have planned carefully and you have completed your ‘last minute checks’. Now you
are finally beginning your event. If all your hard work and careful planning is not to go to
waste, you will have to run the day in the way that parallels the work of an orchestra
director. For your group to work together and achieve the goals of the day they will need
to take responsibility for their roles, but they will only be able to do that if they get from
you the organization and information they need. Your key tool for achieving this will be
effective ‘group management’. As imposing as this term might seem, good group
management mostly comes down to following some simple strategies.
Good group management achieves three things: It keeps the group together, it ensures
that the information the participants need flows out to them in a timely manner, and it
ensures that the information you need flows in to you as appropriate.
Keeping the Group Together
Unless your group stays together, you become very vulnerable to something disrupting
your day. When an unplanned split happens to the group:
- Time, energy and resources are wasted trying to get it back together again.
- If anyone needs help, it will be harder to provide it.
- Part of the group may stray into a hazardous situation.
- Where dangerous animals exist, single people, especially children, are more
vulnerable.
- Communication between group members becomes much more difficult or
impossible.
- Your authority as a leader will be eroded, which will prevent you from responding
effectively to an emergency.
Unfortunately, getting split up is all too easy if you don’t have some strategies to keep
people together. This is particularly true for a large group. There will be different
strategies for a ‘mobile’ group that is paddling from one place to another and a ‘static’
group that is working in a small geographic area.
The Mobile Group on Water
While on the move the boats must be arranged so as to achieve several objectives.
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The boats must be close enough for verbal and visual connection to be easily
maintained between all boats
One leader needs to be at or near the front of the group to provide direction
One leader needs to be at or close to the rear to ensure that no boat can get
separated from the group and to ensure that a capsize or other emergency becomes
immediately obvious to the leadership team
The exact strategy for this arrangement will depend on several factors:
- Typically boats should be no more than 2 boat lengths apart, but far enough apart
that they are not interfering with each other
- The age of the group should be factored into spacing
- Where there is motorized boat traffic a line of boats can be inconsiderate of other
people and can increase risk of a collision, a tighter ‘convoy’ with some boats
side-by-side may be preferable
- On moving water boats will typically be in a line with a lead and sweep boat.
The following protocols will help you keep a mobile group together.
- Every group larger than three boats needs a lead boat out front who knows where
they are going and a sweep boat that comes last.
- Exactly what ‘staying together’ means will depend on the nature of the group. For
young children that may mean no more than two meters apart. For older, more
experienced paddlers staying together means keeping within visual and/or verbal
range of the boat in front of them and behind them.
- Everybody in the group needs to know what their role is and what they are
expected to do to help the group stay together. They need to know that they must
pass a message forward to the other boats if their boat can’t keep up with the pace
or needs to stop, or if they are losing contact with the boats behind them.
- Since small gaps between boats regularly occur in large groups, even if they
practice good group management, any point along the shoreline can cause the
boats to lose communication with each other. Keeping all boats within sight going
around points helps keep each boat in communication with the group.
- Since voices don’t carry very well over water when there is wind, paddle signals
have been developed so that paddlers can effectively communicate with each
other if voice contact won’t work. Make sure that you go over what the paddle
signals are, what they mean, and when to use them. Training in the use of these
signals needs to be done before your group gets on the water.
- You need to set the right pace, make scheduled stops so that participants can eat,
drink, adjust clothing, go to the bathroom etc. You also need to communicate
clearly what the plan is for the next time period.
- Every time the group stops – count boats and heads. There is no other way to be
sure that you have not lost someone since the last stop.
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Rafting up
Rafting up can be an excellent group management technique. Rafting up can allow your
group to take a break and it can help you to get a better read on how your participants are
feeling by allowing for better communication. It can also help your participants to focus
on something specific (like skill instruction, or a teaching topic, or a snack break) that
you have in your Activity Plan.
However, rafting up is not always the best group management technique, and in certain
situations can be very dangerous. Depending on the type of water environment that you
are leading in, the downfalls of rafting up can be relatively small things like pinched
fingers, to serious situations like your raft of boats being carried sideways into a bridge
pillar.
While much could be said about rafting up as a group management technique, these are
the main points to keep in mind:
-
-
-
-
Rafting up can be a good defense against capsizing in choppy or rough water
Boats that are rafted up tend to be effected more by current and wind
When rafted up, people tend to focus on other people in the group and will not be
as alert to their surroundings. As the leader you will need to make a special effort
to maintain a high situational awareness for the big picture beyond the raft.
Games that can be played when the group is rafted up can add excellent quality to
your event, as long as they are carried out safely
One activity that rafting up facilitates is moving things from one boat to another.
This can result in items like lunches, or sunglasses etc. ending up in the water,
particularly if items are thrown rather than passed. Alert participants to this
possibility and ensure that things are transferred safely
Rafting up is an excellent time to switch boat teams around if you are having an
issue with a particular partnership. This is applicable when you are not close
enough to land to do this re-arrangement.
If boats are tied together during a raft up, only use knots that can be undone
quickly and easily (i.e. ‘quick-release’ knots) in case your group needs to un-raft
quickly for any reason. Never tie boats together on moving water if there are any
obstructions like bridge piers in the water. This can result in a serious mishap.
The Mobile Group on Land
The following protocols will help you keep a mobile hiking group together.
- Every group larger than about six needs a person out front who knows where they
are going and a ‘tail sweep’ who comes last.
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-
-
-
-
-
Exactly what ‘staying together’ means will depend on the nature of the group. For
young children that may mean no more than two meters apart. For older, more
experienced hikers staying together means keeping within visual and/or verbal
range of the people in front of them and behind them.
Everybody in the group needs to know what their role is and what they are
expected to do to help the group stay together. They need to know that they must
pass a message forward if they can’t keep up or need to stop, or if they are losing
contact with the people behind.
Since small gaps regularly occur in large group even if they practice good group
management, any fork in the trail may result in a split group unless you are
careful. The leader needs to stop at all such points and make sure the tail of the
group knows which fork to take before moving on.
You need to set the right pace, make scheduled stops so that participants can eat,
drink, adjust clothing, go to the bathroom etc. You also need to communicate
clearly what the plan is for the next time period.
Every time the group stops – count heads. There is no other way to be sure that
you have not lost someone since the last stop.
The Importance of Communication
Be careful to not ‘under-communicate’ key information to your group. As you have
planned this event and this is a comfortable environment for you it is very easy to
overestimate what your participants know.
Over-communication can be a problem too. If you give a big speech before you leave the
put-in or trailhead most of the information will never be received. A better strategy is to
parcel out information over several stops, timing the delivery such that it is the
information they will need in the next short while. For instance, instructions on blister
awareness should be given early in the day since blisters can develop quickly, but not in a
parking lot while people are mostly occupied adjusting to their environment. Information
concerning a lunch stop can be delayed until an hour before you get there.
Be aware that when a person has a pressing need and they don’t know how it can be met,
they suffer unnecessary stress and may make a decision for themselves that is disruptive
to the group. To prevent this from happening you need to anticipate what they will need
before they realize themselves, and let them know how that need will be met. Knowing
what the plan is relieves their stress and allows them to strategize to fit in with the group
activity. This is especially important on the water when you consider bathroom breaks.
Advising your group of when (and where) there are good places to take bathroom breaks
helps them to self-evaluate and maybe take a break earlier than they might normally.
Leaving participants to speak up when they have to “go” means they might speak up
when you can’t get onto the land for another 15 minutes.
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You also need to be receiving information from your group. A critical part of effective
leadership is to be aware of developing issues so that you can devise and implement a
solution for them before they become serious problems.
Quiz 8a)
a) Over-communication will result in your group missing information, so a better
strategy is to only give instructions when you see they are doing something that is
compromising your plan.
True  False 
b) While paddling or hiking, it is fine for older kids or adults to be out of sight from
each other for quite long periods so long as they have verbal contact.
True  False 
c) If you give people too much information it encourages too much independence
and this makes it hard to keep the group together.
True  False 
d) As a leader, it is important to be receiving information from your group, so that
you can deal with issues as they develop.
True  False 
e) A trip runs more smoothly if everyone times their personal care needs to scheduled
stops. Communicating how long it will be until the next stop during the previous
one will help people manage this.
True  False 
Pacing
You need to lead your group at the right speed, or ‘pace’. If you start out too fast, you
will exhaust the group early in the day. This will actually make you slower over all, since
the exhausted people will move very slowly at the end of the day. If your pace is too
slow, not only may you not have enough time to accomplish your goals, but it will be
frustrating for your participants.
The ‘right pace’ is the pace that is right for your slowest participant/boat. While it is often
frustrating to hold the hold group to this slower pace, you have no choice. It is unwise to
force this participant/boat to take a pace they simply can’t keep up. While pushing them
might relieve your short-term problem, the long-term problem will be much greater once
they are exhausted. It is generally best to set a pace such that people can talk and not get
too sweaty.
Finding the right pace for your group requires experimentation. First you must guess the
right pace and paddle or walk at that pace for a while. Then you should check to see how
your group is managing. For younger groups this check can be mostly a visual scan of the
group’s performance, but for older groups the pressure of wanting to fit in with the group
often means that people will appear to be keeping up even when the pace is too fast.
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To check the pace for an older group, you have to let them know why finding the right
pace is important, and encourage them to let you know if they are finding the pace too
fast.
You should be monitoring the pace all day, but you should be particularly alert early in
the day. The first active check should be about ten minutes after leaving and can be done
with the other checks listed below. However, many people will not have found their pace
yet and so an active check should be made at the next stop, too.
Finally, maintaining a pace that is slower than one’s own natural pace is a skill. At first it
will require considerable effort since as our attention wanders to other matters there is a
tendency to resume our natural pace.
The body does not work well if it is too hot, too cold, dehydrated or hungry. For your
participants to get the most out of their day they need to be able to look after themselves
with respect to these things. Since it may be difficult to change clothing or access food or
a water bottle while paddling or hiking, you will have to schedule stops so people can
manage these things.
Paddling technique is important. If your participants use ‘pull strokes’ that use only the
biceps they may tire quickly and be unable to keep up with the group or to complete the
paddle. Instructing participants how to perform the ‘push’ stroke that engage the back and
abdominal muscles and then monitoring to ensure they are actually performing it will
help everyone enjoy their day and make keeping the group together easier.
If people develop a blister early in the day on a hike, it may make it very difficult for
them later. Typically, people are aware that they have a sore or “hot” spot before the
blister occurs, but may pay it little attention. By the time they feel a lot of discomfort,
they have already blistered. Remind everyone that they need to deal with sore spots
before they blister.
As far as possible, plan in advance for these stops and communicate that plan to the
group. Knowing what your plan is enables people to strategize for themselves around
these things. Failure to make and/or communicate a plan will inevitably result in people
making unscheduled stops to take care of things. These unscheduled stops will disrupt
your plan, and result in many more stops than are needed, which is frustrating for
everyone else. An unscheduled stop may result in having to land your boats at an
unfamiliar or hazardous spot, and unscheduled stops make it very hard to keep the group
together.
Part of your communication plan should include letting everyone know when the next
stop is, and that you would prefer to not stop before then.
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Your first stop should be about ten minutes along the route. Inevitably there will be at
least some people who, in the confusion of leaving the put-in or trailhead, were not ready
for the paddle/hike. This is their opportunity to get organized.
People also need to know to use stops as bathroom breaks. Where there are established
facilities, these should be used. Where there are not, the procedures used should conform
to responsible environmental practices.
Taking care of bathroom breaks can be uncomfortable for people not familiar with
natural environments. Be aware that some people may try to avoid going to the bathroom
and that can affect their performance. In particular, girls and women may deliberately not
drink so they don’t have to go. In this case dehydration can be a serious concern. You
may need to help your group manage these issues.
Collecting Information
While you are communicating to your group, you need to be collecting information in
return. This information will help you monitor how everyone is doing. Most issues can be
easily managed before they become a serious problem, but that means you must have an
early warning system.
Communication can happen on many levels, and you will have more chance of catching
an early warning sign if you keep all the channels open. Specifically:
- Educate participants about issues they may face (sunburn, thirst, fatigue, etc.) and
empower them to let you know if something is developing.
- Be observant of how people are behaving. Mood changes may be indications of
fatigue, hunger or thirst.
- Be aware that people often talk in code. For example the question ‘how long to
the next stop?’ often means ‘I need to stop to deal with something’.
- Don’t forget to monitor yourself. If you are cold, hungry or thirsty, chances are
that many of your participants are, too. Ensure that you look after your own
physical needs; it is very easy to neglect yourself when your primary concern is
with your participants!
Make sure that you use this incoming information to notice anybody who may be
struggling in some way. Looking after the needs of the weakest person is a key strategy
for ensuring the stronger people have a good day, too.
Managing Leadership Resources
Most events have more than one person in a leadership role. As we discussed during
event preparation, these extra people should add strength and resiliency to your group,
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but they also have the potential to be a source of problems. You will have prepared them
for what is expected of them during the trip planning, and you will have checked in with
them during the ‘last minute checks’, to ensure that they are clear on their
responsibilities.
During the event you need to observe their performance to ensure they are doing their job
adequately. If not, you may have to tactfully remind them of it. If this strategy is
unsuccessful, you may need to adjust your plan so as to compensate for this vulnerability.
Your co-leaders are also a valuable source of information. As they are both physically
and socially in a different place in the group, they may be collecting valuable information
about developing issues. Take the time to check in with them from them from time to
time and solicit this information and empower them to let you know if they see potential
issues developing that you may not have noticed, yet.
Group Organization for a Static Site
For an event, or portion of an event, that takes place in a ‘Water Environment with
defined boundaries’, many of the techniques listed above will still be relevant, but there
are additional considerations for these types of activities.
Setting boundaries:
- Make sure that everyone is clear on where the boundaries are. Pay particular
attention to identifying any areas close by that are either not part of the Low Risk
Water Environment (e.g. a channel with strong currents) or contain other hazards
(e.g. heavy ship traffic), or are either not part of the Class 1 Hiking Terrain (e.g. a
river).
- Keeping the group together:
- Everybody needs to be within verbal contact of the leader.
- On water, each boat needs to be able to see and hear the lead boat, or at the very
least see and hear the sweep boat.
- On land it is quite easy to lose track of an individual in a large group so everyone
should have a ‘buddy’ who never leaves them.
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Quiz 8b)
a) Keeping a regular pace that everyone can keep up is important, but so too is
keeping moving. A boat or hiker that finds the pace fast should be encouraged to
keep up with the group and then let the leader know at the next stop.
True  False 
b) Since you let everyone know when the next stop will be you can safely assume
that the person who asks’ how long to the next stop’ just wasn’t listening.
True  False 
c) Sometimes the people who are co-leading with you might not perform their role
adequately. If a tactful reminder on the route has no effect, there is nothing else
you can or should do.
True  False 
d) Encourage participants to speak up if they have an issue that they need to deal
with, but constantly be observing the behaviour of the group, because people may
not speak up.
True  False 
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Chapter 9
Situational Awareness
We have planned carefully for our day, and we have employed the group management
strategies that have been shown to help us reduce risk and improve the quality of the
experience. Now our event is underway, our job can be compared to that of the helmsperson of a sailing vessel. Our vessel and crew may be fine, but we need to be alert to the
many changes going on in our risk environment so that we don’t end up with our fine
vessel being capsized by a squall.
Situational Awareness
To some degree, our ability to understand what is going on around us and predict what
will happen next is always limited, which is why risk exists in the first place. Of course,
we usually know enough, and predict well enough, that we make our way through life
with only the occasional accident. Accidents happen when what we think is going on is
different from what is actually going on in some key way that results in us making a poor
decision.
Our situational awareness is the totality of our beliefs about the current situation and what
we think will happen next. Obviously, the better our situational awareness of the
important things happening on our event matches what is actually going on, the more
successful we will be. For this reason, we need to continually work to update our
situational awareness.
Maintaining Situational Awareness
In previous sections, we discussed key strategies for building situational awareness as it
relates to us (leader’s motivation), our group (visioning and communication), and the
environment (visioning, water condition and weather checks).
During our event, because things will be changing, we will have to continually update our
situational awareness. To do that we will have to be constantly seeking information
through observing and talking to our participants and co-leaders while keeping an eye on
the physical environment. We will also have to keep an eye on ourselves, and how we are
managing in the role of group leader.
Maintaining Situational Awareness of the Physical Environment
Activities in Low Risk Natural Environments are relatively safe but there are potential
hazards, and you must be constantly checking to ensure that nothing in the physical
environment is changing in ways that might impact the group.
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Weather is the factor that is most variable, and the one most likely to impact your event,
so it is essential that you monitor it continuously.
Water and/or Trail Conditions can vary enormously. Both can change dramatically
over a matter of hours as the result of rain, changing winds and/or tides.
Knowing where you are. Map and compass skills are not required for this course, but
you still have to find the route, and you also need to know where on the route you are
relative to your schedule. The expectation is that you have already paddled the route or
visited the site so that route finding is easy and so you know that your proposed schedule
is practical. Even with this prior knowledge, mistakes are possible, so actively
maintaining awareness of your location is required.
Maintaining Self-Awareness
You are part of the group you are monitoring. In fact you are the most influential part of
that group. Your performance is critical to the success of the venture. You are not a
machine, so your performance may not be consistent. Your effectiveness as a leader is
also influenced by the group.
Skilled leaders are sensitive to this variability and attempt to compensate for it. That said,
self-awareness is the most challenging of the three areas of situational awareness to
monitor. Even though we know ourselves better than anyone else, it is not possible to
stand back and view ourselves completely objectively. Key tools that will help you
improve your ability to ‘objectively’ monitor your performance can be found in the
exercises and protocols in the self-debriefing section of Chapter 11. Some things you
need to consider:
-
-
-
Leadership can be quite tiring, and toward the end of your day your tiredness may
result in decreased performance. Your group is also getting tired, and weather is
often worse in the afternoon. Not surprisingly, most accidents happen in the
afternoon.
Make sure that you take the time to look after yourself. In particular, look after
your own food and water needs as diligently as you look after your group’s needs.
If you sense that something is going poorly, but you don’t understand why,
consider the possibility that it is either something you are doing, or something that
you need to do. You may need to get away from the group for a few minutes to
work out what this is.
Often, other members of the team are aware that you are struggling in your role
before you are. One of the benefits of having a strong leadership team where coleaders are empowered to provide advice is that your co-leaders may be able help
you become aware of emerging issues with your leadership, or assume your role
in order to give you the space to find a solution.
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Maintaining Situational Awareness is an Active Process
Most situational awareness takes place at the level of the subconscious. This does not
mean, however, that you can lead on autopilot. The subconscious processes that run most
of our situational awareness are very sophisticated and powerful. They are superbly
designed to help us deal with the routine and expected, but they are not always good at
dealing with the unexpected. The subconscious also frees our conscious mind up to do
the important and creative things that make leadership interesting.
In this section, and in the group management section, we have encouraged you to practice
habits and protocols that will help you manage the process of maintaining situational
awareness, but at the end of the day this requires active work. You must stay alert at all
times for the pieces of information you need, to know what is going on, to predict what
might happen, and to find creative solutions that will maximize your chances for a safe
and productive day.
Quiz 9
a) The better our situational awareness is about our group the more likely we are to
have a safe and successful event.
True  False 
b) Low Risk Water Environments and Class 1 Hiking Terrain are low risk, so you so
you can concentrate on your activities without having to be on the lookout for
potential hazards.
True  False 
c) Familiarity with the route and knowing your group’s location along it at any given
time will help you to stick to your planned schedule and/or respond effectively to
the unexpected.
True  False 
d) Remember to monitor yourself as well as your group; it is easy to neglect your
own needs if your focus is always on your participants.
True  False 
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
Chapter 10
Accident and Emergency Response
We work hard to create an event that runs without a hitch, but accidents do happen. Part
of our pre-event planning needs to be directed at being ready for the unexpected. In this
chapter we will talk about some of the leadership issues that may confront you when an
accident happens.
Minor accidents are quite common, even in a Low Risk Natural Environment. For this
reason at least one leader should have first aid training and the group must carry a first
aid kit. This kit should be adequate to deal with minor injuries such as cuts and scrapes.
Establishing protocols to help participants manage particular health issues such as
allergies, diabetes or asthma should be part of your pre-trip planning.
If an injury is severe enough to affect a person’s ability to perform their role on the event,
you will have to make some decisions.
Initially you will have to decide if you will need outside help to ‘rescue’ the person. This
is often the choice when the injury is very severe or the person is very impaired. Consider
whether you can effectively manage the situation with the resources that you have. Can
you ‘self-rescue’?
Self-Rescue
If you elect to self-rescue then you will need to revise your event plan so as to free up the
resources you will need to carry out the rescue. Whatever revisions you make, you will
also need to consider how those revisions will affect the rest of the group. If you devote
all your resources to getting the injured person out and fail to consider the uninjured
people, you may end up creating a dangerous situation for everyone.
In general, there are three routes you can follow:
- If the injury/situation is fairly minor you might be able to continue with the
general plan by giving the affected person some additional help, such as taking
any extra gear out of their boat, or pairing them with a stronger paddling partner.
- You might decide to cut the event short and head out earlier than expected.
- You can decide to split the group and have one leader take the injured person out
while you continue with the rest of the group. This is the most risky decision and
it needs to be made with care. By splitting the group into two you have created
two groups that are more vulnerable to further mishap than the original plan
called for. You will need to consider whether:
a) The leader is adequately able to cope with taking the injured person out.
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b) The larger group is able to manage with reduced leadership resources
should further mishap occur.
Regardless of the option you choose, you also must decide if you need to contact your
base to inform them of the situation and/or request additional resources be brought to the
put-in or pull-out.
Outside Rescue
Emergencies serious enough to require outside assistance are very rare in Low Risk
Natural Environments, but they do happen and can happen to anyone. Such incidents are
very stressful and can be challenging to manage. Fortunately they are rare enough that
specialized training for self-rescue is not really worth the time and effort for a Level 1
Leader. As you have little training and experience for this type of emergency it is wise to
carry a detailed ‘rescue plan’. You can find an example in Appendix C of this manual.
A few key points that can be made in advance are:
- No matter what has happened, the safety of yourself, your co-leaders and the
uninjured people is your first concern. The situation becomes worse if uninjured
people become injured, and injured rescuers become part of the problem instead
of the solution.
- Amongst the leadership group you should appoint one person to be the ‘site
commander’ who is in charge of the rescue site until relieved. This person never
involves themselves in the mechanics of the rescue, but directs others to do what
is necessary.
- Appoint a person to document in writing everything that happens, beginning with
the time.
- Remember that all forms of wireless communication can be intercepted by other
people. Be very careful what you say over a radio in particular. There are people
who monitor radio channels in the hope of picking up an emergency that they can
sell to the media.
- Nobody in your group should talk to any outside person except the rescue
services. It is the responsibility of your organization to manage the media, etc.
Quiz 10
a) In the event of an accident your first concern should be the person hurt.
True  False 
b) In the case of a fairly minor injury, you may be able to continue with your main
event if your team is strong enough to send a leader out with the injured person
without compromising the safety of the main group.
True  False 
c) You will never have a serious accident if you plan your event well.
True  False 
d) For a large group, the site commander should only give instructions to the rescuers
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and should not get involved
in the mechanics
of the©rescue.
True  False 
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Chapter 11
Debriefing
Debriefing is a structured process that enables us to think about the event after it is over
so that we can discover important things about that event that might not be discovered
otherwise. De-briefing is a critical element of the event cycle that enriches the experience
of the event just completed while helping us learn the lessons that will assist in offering
an even better event next time.
Fig. 11a. The Event Cycle
Event debriefing is a critically important process for the leader because it is one of the
best tools you have for helping yourself become a better leader. Debriefing is a powerful
way to help you reflect on the effectiveness of what you did at your event and learn how
to do even better next time.
Debriefing is also a vital process for your participants, because it encourages them to
reflect on and learn from their experience. It will help you determine if your goals for
them were met through your event and may alert you to any experiences or issues that
you were unaware of.
Debriefing is also critical for your organization since this will be the principal way in
which the organization learns from the past and prepares for the future.
Debriefing is so powerful because:
- While we are on the event, we are mostly occupied with whatever is going on at
the moment. Debriefing allows us to view the event as a whole. This helps us to
see how the individual events of the day are connected to each other and
influenced by each other.
- Debriefing allows us to discover what other people observed about the event. As
people are different and everyone had their own unique experience during the
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-
day, they might have knowledge that is important for you to know. Debriefing is
the most reliable way to find out this information.
Debriefing encourages dialogue between people. After a good debriefing session,
everyone sees things differently. Good debriefing not only enriches our
understanding of how the day worked, it strengthens the relationships within the
team.
Debriefing enables us to discover patterns. Patterns do not happen by accident and
observing patterns enables us to learn what worked and what did not.
There are many ways to conduct debriefing, and the technique we use depends on what
we are trying to achieve. In this chapter we will look at four types that are most often
used by outdoor leaders.
Leadership Team Debriefing
Leadership team debriefing is certainly recommended for the field leaders whenever
there is more than one person leading in the field.
Leadership team debriefing is a face-to-face exercise. For debriefing to be effective
certain things have to be in place:
a) There must be enough trust amongst the members of the group for everyone to
feel free to share their opinion, no matter how ‘junior’ a member of the team they
are.
b) Everyone must be actively invited and encouraged to speak.
c) The session needs to stay ‘positive’. Where something negative needs to be
addressed, consider the following. For example, ‘You did that (bad thing)!’ could
be replaced with, ‘I may not have this right, but my impression is that had you
done this (good thing), these things might have worked better.’ Debriefing is not
about laying blame, but about determining what could have been done better.
d) While debriefing, nobody should be doing anything else. You need to have your
wits about you to be able to communicate to others and understand what they are
saying in return.
e) You need to have a formal structure for the debriefing. Typically this involves
focusing the group’s attention on several key questions.
Useful attention focusing questions are:
- What in your opinion worked really well today?
- What in your opinion could we have done better today?
- Did the activities of the day seem to be pitched at the right level for the group?
- What do you think we could do differently if we ran this event again?
- Are there any high points of the day that you would like to share with the group?
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It is also useful to have debriefing sessions with various other people that might be
associated with your event as non-participants. These are the people we identified earlier
as ‘stakeholders’. We will probably not debrief with these people after every event, but it
is wise to do this occasionally.
Quiz 11a
a) Team debriefing is a structured process for deciding who should collect praise and
who should take the blame for went right or wrong.
True  False 
b) If nothing went wrong on your event you can presume that you did everything
right.
True  False 
c) Team debriefing is best conducted over a few beers at supper time.
True  False 
d) Good team debriefing strengthens relationships and assists with learning. Poor
team de-briefing may have the opposite effect for both relationships and learning.
True  False 
e) Debriefing after an event helps both the leaders and the participants maximize their
learning by reflecting on their experience during the event.
True  False 
f) It is not necessary to debrief after a well-planned event that went off without
incident, because you can be confident that you met your goal. True  False 
g) Debriefing with your leadership team and participants after every event helps you
to become a better leader.
True  False 
h) As an observant leader, you can always tell what other people are feeling by
watching their behaviour during an event.

Self-Reflection (Self-Debriefing)
Self-debriefing cannot be encouraged enough. It is challenging because of two
fundamental human characteristics. First, we must have a strong self-identity to be
effective, so when we are sent messages that may conflict with our self-identity we may
simply be unable to hear them. Second, the very processes that enable our subconscious
to manage our situational awareness so very well also contain built-in ‘biases’. These
biases are there because most of the time they help us get the answer right. Unfortunately,
when a bias causes us to make a mistake we usually cannot ‘see’ that error unless the
negative results are fairly dramatic.
Despite the challenges, we are able to self-reflect and discover key information about our
performance as leaders. The rules and ‘questions’ for this process are quite similar to
those for group debriefing:
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a) Be kind to yourself. It is as important to reflect on what you did well as on what
you could have done better. Identifying what you did well, and the reasons why it
worked so well, will help you identify the right thing to do in future situations.
b) Keep your mind open. It is easy to take credit for things that went well, but we
also need to examine as objectively as possible our contribution to the things that
did not go as well. Don’t beat yourself up, but do think about how you can do
things differently in the future.
c) Some of the ideas for self-debriefing should come from the results of the team debrief and the other forms of debriefing that we will discuss below. These other
exercises may uncover things that are very hard for you to discover for yourself.
This is one of the reasons why these other forms of debriefing are so valuable.
d) Self-debriefing needs to be done when you are not distracted by other things that
require conscious attention.
One important outcome of self-debriefing exercises is that they help build self-awareness
skills that will help you maintain the self-awareness component of situational awareness
covered in the last chapter.
Quiz 11b
a) It is very difficult to be fully objective about our own performance.
True  False 
b) Leadership is a complex job that the diligent person will become more skilled at
over time as they build experience. The self-debriefing process will help
accelerate that learning process by providing insights that help guide us.
True  False 
c) Self-debriefing can help us understand how our own personality influences our
leadership style and these insights can help us maintain better situational
awareness while in the field.
True  False 
d) Self-debriefing cannot be done while riding your bike or going for a walk by
yourself since it must be done when nothing else is distracting you.
True  False 
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Organizational Debriefing
Your organization needs to learn too. For most serious accidents, a key post-accident
discovery is that the sponsoring organization did not effectively document and learn from
past events. Your organization’s administrators are not out in the field with you on your
events; the only reliable way for them to learn is from the feedback you provide. You
have a duty to yourself, your organization and your participants to provide this
information. Paperwork can seem like an unnecessary chore, but you are doing it for a
good reason. This is especially important if there is an accident or near-miss during your
event that can result in legal action against the organization later on.
The rules for effective organizational debriefing are similar to those for the other forms of
debriefing. Specifically, it should be structured so as to empower everyone to provide
input through positive dialogue. That dialogue should directly recognize the positives.
Where there are negatives, the emphasis should be on the discovery of positive solutions.
Hopefully your organization meets these high standards, but even if it does not, you need
to provide feedback as effectively as the situation permits. If feedback is highly
formalized, as is the case in many larger organizations (i.e. one-way delivery of postevent forms), you should attempt to provide the best feedback the situation allows for.
Quiz 11c
a) The information collected after an event on various forms can be an invaluable
record that can help us work with our organizations to find better ways of doing
things.
True  False 
b) Administrators have no idea what goes on in the field and so they tend to overreact to anything on a post-event form that could seem alarming. The best thing to
do is only passing on information that can’t be hidden anyway. True  False 
c) The paperwork in some organizations requires large amounts of time that would
be better spent getting the real job done.
True  False 
d) Debriefing with your participants is not necessary if your event was free of
incidents and everybody appeared to be having a good time.
True  False 
e) Having your participants reflect on their experience during your event helps you
determine if your goals for them were met.
True  False 
f) Preparing your participants for the debrief by letting them know what to expect
prior to the event can lead to better-quality discussion during the debrief.
True  False 
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Debriefing your Participants
There are two types of debriefing processes that you should consider arranging for your
participants. One is a process that enriches you and/or your organization’s understanding
of the event. Evaluation forms are a typical example of this type. The other process is one
that enriches the participants’ own understanding of the day. For this type of debrief, you
would typically lead a discussion in such a way as to help them focus on key concepts or
experiences. If they were prepared for the debrief by being part of the team-building
process as described in Chapter 5, they will have a better idea of what to expect of this
process, which can lead to better-quality feedback and discussion.
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Appendix A
Participant - Equipment Lists
1) Paddling Checklist
Clothing:
Footwear:
A variety of footwear can be used depending on the type of water
environment and the weather. The best all-around paddling footwear is an
old pair of running shoes or sneakers that can be laced up. Closed toed
footwear is ideal to avoid cuts and scrapes from rocks and sharp footing
like barnacles. Sandals and ‘water shoes’ can be a good choice in some
circumstances.
Socks:
If socks are worn, then they need to provide warmth especially when wet
and cold. Neoprene socks work best for this. Cotton socks are a poor
option. Merino wool and synthetic socks marketed for industrial work are
readily available at a reasonable price. Synthetic dress socks can be
considered.
Body Clothing:
Wicking Layer: If cold and/or rainy weather is expected, thermal underwear is
required. Merino wool is best, but expensive. Synthetics are also good.
Cotton is not acceptable since it soaks up water, is slow to dry and fails to
insulate when wet.
Insulating Layer: Specialty gear is best, but can be expensive. A thick synthetic
tracksuit (or two if it could be cold and wet) is a cheaper option for the
lower body. A synthetic fleece jacket or heavy wool sweater is a must for
the upper body.
Water and Windproof Layer: If there is a possibility that your participants may be
exposed to rain a waterproof jacket is essential, and waterproof pants are
desirable. For rain exposure of more than one hour rain pants are essential,
especially in colder weather. Ensure that they are waterproof; it is easy to
mistake windproof for waterproof. People often show up with winter ski
gear that looks waterproof but is not. Breathable waterproof gear is
typically the best when intermittent rain is expected, but for steady rain,
fully waterproof gear is substantially better.
Dry Change of Clothes: Each participant should have one full change of clothes
with them. If you are traveling away from one spot they must be a
waterproof container in the boat. This is for participants to change into in
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the event that they end up in the water and need to change in order to stay
warm.
Hands:
A pair of gloves makes a huge difference during rainy weather, even if it
is not that cold. Neoprene gloves are best.
Head:
For cold weather a toque, and for hot weather a sun hat.
Other Gear:
Day Bag:
25 liters will be large enough for most events. Each person should have
their own dry bag. If people share, then one person will not have access to
their food, water, and extra clothing if they get split up into different boats.
A good solution for this is to line a backpack or duffle bag with a garbage
bag to make it waterproof. Dry bags or barrels are ideal but can be
expensive.
Spare Clothing: Everybody should have at least an extra synthetic jacket or heavy wool
sweater. If for some reason the group has to stand around in the rain (i.e.
to shelter from lightning), they will get cold very quickly.
Sunscreen:
Remind participants to apply it at regular intervals.
Sunglasses:
Ensure UVA & UVB protection and a retention cord.
Food and Water: People typically underestimate the amount of water they will need. This
can lead to serious problems on a hot day. If you are not confident in the
water, or cannot purify it along the route, they may need to bring as much
as two litres each on a hot day.
Personal Medications: If a participant has a life-threatening condition you should ensure
you know this and how to help them should this condition develop. These
need to be in a waterproof container.
Flash/headlight: Especially if the days are short or your expected return time is two or
less hours before sunset.
Camera:
Optional. If one is brought it needs to be kept waterproof.
Not required: Encourage participants to leave behind all phones, mp3 players, etc.
Experiential learning activities in natural areas will always be
compromised by participants being plugged into external entertainment
and exposure to water quickly destroys these expensive devices.
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2) Hiking Checklist
Clothing:
Footwear:
Must have lugged soles. Water resistance and ankle protection is desirable
for longer events. Be aware that new or borrowed/rented hiking boots may
cause blisters. Typically the blister problem is greater than the rolled ankle
problem.
Socks:
Cheap cotton socks are a poor option. Merino wool and synthetic socks
marketed for industrial work are readily available at a reasonable price.
Synthetic dress socks can be considered. Placing a plastic bags over the
socks but inside the shoes can help in wet conditions.
Body Clothing:
Wicking Layer: If cold and/or rainy weather is expected, thermal base layer is
required. Merino wool is best, but expensive. Synthetics are also good.
Cotton is not acceptable since it soaks up water, is slow to dry and fails to
insulate when wet.
Insulating Layer: Specialty gear is best, but can be expensive. A thick synthetic
track pant (or two if it could be cold and wet) is a cheaper option for the
lower body. A synthetic fleece jacket or heavy wool sweater is a must for
the upper body.
Water/Windproof Layer: If there is a possibility that your participants may be
exposed to rain a waterproof jacket is essential, and waterproof pants are
desirable. For rain exposure of more than one hour rain pants are essential,
especially in colder weather. Ensure that they are waterproof; it is easy to
mistake windproof for waterproof. People often show up with winter ski
gear that looks waterproof but is not. Breathable waterproof gear is
typically the best when intermittent rain is expected, but for steady rain,
fully waterproof gear is substantially better.
Hands:
A pair of gloves makes a huge difference during rainy weather, even if it
is not that cold. Wool or synthetic fleece gloves are best.
Head:
For cold weather a touque, and for hot weather a sun hat.
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Other Gear:
Day Pack:
30-45 liters will be large enough for most events. Each person should have
their own. If people share, then one person will not have access to their
food, water, and extra clothing if they get split up.
Spare
Clothing:
Everybody should have at least an extra synthetic jacket or heavy wool
sweater. If for some reason the group has to stand around in the rain (i.e.
to shelter from lightning), they will get cold very quickly.
Sunscreen:
Remind participants of application at regular intervals.
Sunglasses:
Ensure UVA & UVB protection.
Food and
Water:
People typically underestimate the amount of water they will need. This
can lead to serious problems on a hot day. If water is not available on your
route, they may need to bring as much as two liters each on a hot day.
Personal
Medications: If a participant has a life-threatening condition you should ensure you
know this and how to help them should this condition develop.
Flashlight:
Especially if the days are short or your expected return time is two or less
hours before sunset.
Camera:
Optional
Not required: Encourage participants to leave behind all phones, mp3 players, etc.
Experiential learning activities in natural areas will always be
compromised by participants being plugged into external entertainment.
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Appendix B
Leaders - Equipment List
The leaders will need everything on the participants' equipment list and it should be of
good quality. They will also need additional equipment to help them deal with an
emergency. This includes:
Cell/Satellite Phone: The ability to contact the outside world is becoming a standard
Phones/SPOT/Inreach/PLB: Required. In many areas there will be adequate cell phone
coverage. If not you should consider other options. Two-way radios are
good option if they will be able to reliably put you in contact with rescue
services. In remote locations where radios are insufficient you will need a
satellite phone, PLB, Inreach, or the ‘SPOT’ emergency communicator.
If using the Inreach/SPOT, you will need to take the time to set it up on
the Internet and familiarize yourself with how it works.
CB Radios:
Small and inexpensive citizen band radios are an excellent way of
keeping the lines of communication open between the leaders of a larger
group.
First Aid Kit: Large enough to deal with common injuries, including a large cut.
Repair Kit.
Should contain:
- A small roll of duct tape (will help deal with everything from a broken
PFD strap to a torn rain jacket)
- Needle and thread
- Lighter and fire starter
- Pocket knife
- Wire
Extra Clothing: If you have an injured person that cannot be moved, you will need to
have extra clothing to put on them so they stay insulated and warm.
Insulated pants, a light sleeping bag, or synthetic blanket and extra
sweaters are all good options.
Emergency Shelter: For an event that takes you more than thirty minutes from the put-in
or trailhead, you need an emergency shelter that can be used to protect
your group from rain or wind and is strong enough to be used as an
improvised stretcher for a short distance.
Log Book and Pencil: Should contain list of names, medical info for group, emergency
contacts for group, etc. and space to record information in case of an
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accident or incident. This book is also a good place to write down what
your group ate, when and how much water/liquid was consumed, as well
as descriptions of any weather changes/developments.
Emergency Response Plan: A copy of this is required in case you have a major
emergency. Ensure that you have verified contact telephone numbers,
radio frequencies, contact names and appropriate resources in advance.
(see Appendix C for some important components)
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Appendix C
Transport Canada – Boat Safety Equipment List
The Government of Canada, through Transport Canada has mandated that on a Federal
waterway all boats and watercraft including human powered vessels (i.e. canoes and
kayaks) must have the following equipment on board. This includes:
One (1) Canadian-approved personal flotation device or lifejacket of appropriate size for
each person on board
One (1) Manual propelling device (i.e. paddle)
One (1) buoyant heaving line at least 15 m long
One (1) bailer or manual bilge pump
One (1) sound signaling device (i.e. whistle)
Navigation Lights (i.e. a watertight flashlight for a canoe or kayak)
-
Navigation lights are only required if the canoe or kayak is operated after sunset,
before sunrise, or in periods of restricted visibility (fog, falling snow, etc.).
Standards applicable to canoes and kayaks were taken from this source:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/debs-obs-equipment-size-unpowered-192.htm
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Appendix D
Important Components - Emergency Response Plan
Type 1 response
Situation can be managed with resources at hand
Type 2 response
Outside help needed
Type 3 response
There is a fatality
Type 1 Response
Situation can be managed with resources at hand
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Your first priority is to assure the safety of the group.
Attend to the situation at hand.
Record relevant details in your log book for future reference.
If necessary, abandon the rest of the event and evacuate the group.
Consider notifying your supervisor by phone
When you return to base, fill in an incident report form. If there is an injury, fill in an
injury report form.
Type 2 Response
Outside help needed
1) Your first priority is to assure the safety of the group.
2) One leader takes charge of stabilizing the situation, while another phones/radios for
help.
3) Use your resource list to identify who you should contact.
4) Inform contact of your situation and include all relevant information including:
- who you and your organization are
- the nature of the emergency
- the help you require
- your location and likely access options
- how the person you contacted can get back to you. If using a phone, give them
your phone number and if using a radio leave it on.
5) When help arrives, give rescue personnel any information that may help them manage
their work.
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6)
7)
8)
9)
Record relevant details in your log book for future reference.
If necessary, abandon the rest of the event and evacuate the group
When you return to base, fill in incident and injury report forms.
Notify your supervisor of the situation at the earliest possible moment once all other
critical tasks have been accomplished.
10) DO NOT talk to any person outside of your group and assisting organizations.
11) DO NOT apologize, but expressing caring and concern is essential.
Type 3 Response
Organized rescue needs to be mobilized and there is a fatality
1) Your first priority is to assure the safety of the group.
2) One leader takes charge of stabilizing the situation, while another phones/radios for
help. Do not move the body unless this is the only way to prevent the loss of the
body (i.e. being swept away by moving water)
3) Use your resource list to identify who you should contact.
4) Inform contact of your situation and include all relevant information including:
5) who you and your organization are
6) the nature of the emergency
7) the help you require
8) your location and likely access options
9) how the person you contacted can get back to you. If using a phone, give them your
phone number and if using a radio leave it on.
10) When help arrives, give rescue personnel any information that may help them
manage their work.
11) Record relevant details in your logbook for future reference.
12) Prepare and execute a plan to evacuate the group. (They will be traumatized and
although you too will be in distress you will need to provide confident and reassuring
leadership)
13) When you return to base, fill in incident and injury report forms.
14) Notify your supervisor of the situation at the earliest possible moment once all other
critical tasks have been accomplished.
15) DO NOT talk to any person outside of your group and assisting organizations.
16) DO NOT apologize, but expressing caring and concern is essential.
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Leaders’ Additional Responsibilities:
Record Keeping
In the event of an accident that requires filling in an Accident Report Form, leaders must:
- Construct a written log of events, including times
- If helpful, photos or sketches should be made of the scene
- Where a serious injury has occurred, consider:
- Taking witness statements from people who witnessed the events precipitating the
injury
- Record names, addresses and contact information of all witnesses
- Construct a personal statement explaining the circumstances of the event
Communications
Communications should be made by phone. When communications are made by radio,
outsiders will likely monitor the channel, therefore act and speak accordingly.
Incidents
Incidents that might have led to an accident should be reported when returning to base,
and written in your log book for future reference. We call these ‘near-misses’.
Dealing with the Media
Nobody in the group should talk to the media under any circumstances. This is the
responsibility of your sponsoring organization to manage.
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Emergency Resource Page
Emergency services phone numbers and radio frequencies:
Key organization phone numbers and radio frequencies:
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Appendix E
Non-PFD Water Access Procedures
This course and certification in Low Risk Water Environment includes not only the water
itself and the physical boundary between the land and water but also the ‘shoreline
boundary’. This includes any land close enough for a person to accidentally end up in the
water. For this entire region, incidents that result in drowning are possible and so
appropriate procedures must be observed.
The Shoreline Boundary
This area is inherently attractive to people of all ages, but when non-swimmers
unintentionally end up in the water, or injured swimmers end up in the water, drowning
can occur. The following protocols should be observed when people are accessing the
shoreline boundary:
a) Non-swimmers should never access the shoreline boundary unless accompanied
by a responsible individual trained in shoreline rescue (i.e. Reach, Throw, Row,
Go, principals).
b) At the least a throw rope should be available. Paddles or other reaching assists
could also be present and would assist with a rescue.
c) Individuals impaired by alcohol or drugs should not access any part of the Low
Risk Water Environment.
d) Horseplay should not take place in the shoreline boundary.
e) For riverbanks where water flows are sufficient to undercut banks, additional
restriction on access may apply.
f) Strong swimmers may access the shoreline boundary alone providing it is easy to
exit the water at that location.
Water Activities Incompatible with a PFD
Activities such as swimming, snorkeling, and diving do not permit the wearing of a PFD.
If you intend to conduct these activities you should do so in accordance with the
standards set by recognized authorities. For Snorkeling and Diving this would be the
Professional Association of Diving Associations (PADI).
If you are planning a formal swimming activity, you should use a swimming protocol.
This will require you to familiarize yourself the standards set by a body such as Canadian
Red Cross. You should be aware that safeguarding a group of swimmers is not a simple
matter and should not be taken lightly.
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Appendix E
The OCC PFD Protocol
Use this protocol to decide whether your group needs to be wearing PFDs or not during
your activity. Note: This is only a decision-making guide and is not designed to override
the judgment of the leader in the field.
Is the activity incompatible with wearing a
PFD?
YES
Use Swimming
Protocol
NO
Is the water temp less than 150 Celsius?
YES
NO
YES
Are the participants non-swimmers1?
NO
Is there water that is deeper than the
participant’s armpits?
YES
WEAR
PFD’s
NO
Could the activity result in a disabling
injury2?
YES
NO
Are any participants 12 years of age or
younger?
YES
NO
Is there a current flowing at 1 knot or more?
NO
YES
1.
You should attempt to verify that swimming ability
is sufficient for the environment
2.
Any sort of activity that could result in enough
PFD’s Optional (use
energy to incapacitate a person even for a short
swimming protocol)
while can result in a disabling injury that results in
drowning. This would include any sort of fall,
falling object, collision, capsize, etc.
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