At Outward Bound, we teach students leadership, responsibility, and compassion by exposing them to challenge and adventure. Our course activities and environments, from city parks to the most remote wild spaces, present opportunities for students to develop their judgment, push boundaries to uncover new potential, and build self confidence by successfully navigating challenges. But these activities and environments also present inherent risks—risks that we accept as fundamental to the learning process. While we work hard to manage and reduce the risk, the possibility of harm and even death can never be eliminated. Safety remains a top priority at Outward Bound, and we incorporate risk management as an essential element in our programs.
The Northwest Outward Bound School acknowledges the inherent risk of the activities it offers.
We utilize these risks to facilitate high quality educational experiences for a diverse group of students.
We believe that appropriate and well-managed risk-taking is both necessary and beneficial to the fulfillment of our transformative educational mission.
We manage risk for our programs through an extensive proactive system that includes utilizing hazard identification, training, planning for risk mitigation, emergency response and an ongoing risk assessment process that seeks to minimize or eliminate unwanted outcomes. The risk management strategies of NWOBS involve a long-standing organizational culture that fosters transparency and learning around safety-related incidents.
In addition, we employ background checks, select, hire, and train qualified staff, use properly maintained equipment and develop policies and protocols that guide our staff in their decision-making process.
We believe that when managed appropriately, risk in our programs can enhance the educational growth of all of our students.
Through our systems approach to safety and risk management we prioritize the following:
Constantly seek to prevent fatalities, significant and disabling injuries, and other negative outcomes such as serious illness and psychological and emotional distress.
The reporting and review of incidents and near misses that can drive learning and inform needed revisions to our risk management planning.
The identification and reporting of positive capacities such as creating an environment that encourages the reporting of safety concerns which help strengthen our overall culture of safety.
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