Understanding and Preventing Led Outdoor Accidents Data System (UPLOADS)
Little is currently known about the incidence of injuries during led outdoor activities in Australia, the factors that cause injuries, or the most appropriate prevention strategies. To tackle this problem, members of the Australian led outdoor activity industry including Outdoors WA members are currently engaged in a program of research with the Monash University and the University of the Sunshine Coast Accident Research Team.
Outdoors WA encourages all outdoor providers to be involved in this project. You can find more data on the project website http://uploadsproject.org/
A summary of stages is given below.
If you would like to get involved please contact Outdoors WA or researcher Dr. Natassia Goode, details below.
UPDATE - First report from the UPLOADS National Trail
The first report on the UPLOADS National Incident Dataset is complete, this presents the findings from the first six months of the National trial of the UPLOADS Software Tool and UPLOADS Lite.
This really is a watershed moment for the project – this represents the culmination of four years of work on the UPLOADS Project.
A huge amount of work, both from the research team and the outdoor sector, has gone into getting the UPLOADS Project to this point.
A BIG thank you to all those Outdoors WA members who have support the project.
We hope that overtime, the continued analysis and dissemination of the UPLOADS National Incident Dataset will contribute to Australian efforts to reduce incidents during led outdoor activities.
Click here to download the report.
WA Outdoor providers still wanted for UPLOADS system
The UPLOADS project is looking for WA outdoor activity providers to get involved. The outdoor incident reporting and learning system has been trialed with a number of outdoor providers. This is a step forward in developing a system that all activity providers can use to gain accident information across Australia.
2014 Invitation to participate
UPLOADS Stage reports
Stage 1 – problem definition
Stage 1 was conducted with the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) and involved a review of accident causation research in the led outdoor activity domain and an analysis of three led outdoor activity accidents. A workshop involving project stakeholders, led outdoor activity personnel, and researchers from MUARC was then held to disseminate the research findings and determine the most appropriate way forward for the subsequent phases of the research. Based on recommendations arising from the report and workshop, an ARC linkage grant was developed for Phase 2, which received funding at the end of 2011. Stage 1 documents are below:
Stage 2 – Incident database development and validation
Stage 2 involves the development and trialling of an incident database for the led outdoor activity industry. This involves the following phases of research:
- Incident database development. Prototype incident reporting, storage and analysis methods, including robust data coding and classification systems, will be developed based on incident reports from the led outdoor activity sector. These methods will together form a prototype incident database;
- Prototype database refinement. The prototype database will be trialled by a small number of led outdoor activity providers for 6 months. The lessons learnt during this period will be used to refine the database;
- In-depth incident study. The refined incident database will be utilised by a large cross section of led outdoor activity providers in order to conduct an in-depth study of injury causing incidents over 12 months; and Accident causation model development. Based on the findings derived from the former phases, a systems-based model of accident causation for the led outdoor activity domain will be developed. This model will be used by the industry to guide injury prevention efforts.
Industry involvement
The success of this project depends on the participation of outdoor education providers. The project is currently in implementation phase of Stage 2. If you would like to become involved in the UPLOADS project, please contact:
Dr. Natassia Goode
Research Fellow
University of the Sunshine Coast Accident Research (USCAR)
Faculty of Arts and Business
Tel: +61 7 5456 5850 | Fax: +61 7 5430 2859 | Email: ngoode@usc.edu.au | Web: www.usc.edu.au
This projected is supported by funding from the Australia Research Council (ARC) in partnership with:
