Evaluating your Outdoor or Adventure Program: The Role of Standards
Jeff Baierlein
What safety and quality standards apply to outdoor and adventure programs? How do I tell which are effective and useful? How can I determine when it might be a good time to seek to meet published standards?
This workshop aims to answer these questions.
We’ll look at standards from a variety of organizations, including Standards Singapore, ISO, BSI, AEE, CEN, Viristar, ACCT, RYA and more.
Workshop participants will:
- Have an awareness of safety and quality standards for outdoor and adventure programs
- Gain an understanding of how to evaluate standards for quality
- Learn about decision-making guidelines regarding when and how to seek standards conformance
About Jeff
Jeff Baierlein has 38 years of professional experience in risk management for outdoor and experiential education programs, in roles ranging from wilderness expedition leader to Executive Director at Outward Bound. Jeff directs the consultancy Viristar, providing safety, curriculum design, and strategy consulting and training to wilderness, outdoor and travel-based programs world-wide. He is the author of Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure.
Jeff has led and directed wilderness expeditions and outdoor programs in mountaineering, sailing, whitewater kayaking, rock climbing, flatwater canoeing, backpacking, sea kayaking, vertical caving, high ropes challenge course, service learning, whitewater canoeing, international cultural exchange, and technical canyoneering. He has worked as an EMT with multiple ambulance services and been a member of backcountry, high angle, and technical Search and Rescue groups in New Hampshire, Washington state, and Arizona USA, leading rescues in North America and Asia.
Jeff is a keynote speaker on topics ranging from safety in outdoor and experiential programs to diversity, equity and inclusion. He has provided incident reviews and safety audits (risk management reviews) for wilderness, outdoor and travel-based programs, and provided consulting and training services for experiential adventure and outdoor learning programs in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Jeff is an outdoor safety expert witness, an adventure program reviewer with the Association for Experiential Education, and the former Executive Director of both the Boojum Institute for Experiential Education and Outward Bound Baltimore Chesapeake Bay. He has served on numerous Boards of Directors.
Jeff has given presentations in 17 countries, where his work has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Marathi, Russian, and Vietnamese. He has degrees in Environmental Education and Human Development from Prescott College, and a Master’s of Science in Management from Antioch University-Seattle. Jeff lives in Seattle, Washington, USA.
