News: Australian Adventure Activity Standards project pre-release

The Australian Adventure Activity Standard  and Good Practice Guides are designed to ensure effective, responsible, sustainable and safe delivery of adventure activities to dependent participants. They can help people across the outdoor sector to develop appropriately managed adventure activities which enhance individuals and our communities, while protecting the environment and culturally significant places. In doing this, these documents can help ensure that people will continue to enjoy the benefits of adventure activities well into the future.

Outdoors Victoria are co-coordinating the project supported by a steering committee made up of representatives from around the country. The official launch of the new AAAS and the completed activity Good Practice Guide’s (GPG’s) is scheduled for September 2019.

The AAAS and GPG’s provide a voluntary good-practice framework for safe and responsible planning and delivery of outdoor adventure activities with dependent participants.

See the details for the Australian Adventure Activity Standards Pre-release here

Adventure Activity Standards

Adventure Activity Standards reflect common safe practice as identified by the outdoor sector and benchmark the minimum industry requirements and responsibilities for organisations and leaders conducting outdoor adventure activities for commercial and non commercial groups where the participants are dependent upon the activity provider.

The standards are voluntary and provide guidance for organisations when running adventure activities.

The development and implementation of the AAS allows the outdoor adventure sector to demonstrate its collective integrity and agreed standards. This, in turn will provide a measure of quality for the purposes of assisting:

1. Consumers of our services to make informed choices about the services they select 
2. Training organisations to produce graduates who understand and meet industry standards 
3. Media, insurance and legal scrutineers of our industry and its members, to understand what is acceptable practice and what is not 
4. The development of sustainable use practices that consider the specific natural and cultural heritage values of an area 

The Adventure Activity Standards are aligned with the Australian Tourism Accreditation Program and the National Outdoor Leader Registration Scheme.

News:

WA AAS released in Bushwalking and Four Wheel Driving

WA Adventure Activity Standards for Bushwalking and Four Wheel Driving has been reviewed and revised resulting in a current set of guidelines to support four wheel driving activities.
The review process progressed over two years and included open public consultation. Feedback was then considered by a Technical Working Group of activity experts and ratified by the WA Industry Standards Panel.

Two page summaries of the changes can be downloaded here:

Bushwalking changes

Four Wheel Driving changes

The new WA Bushwalking V3.2 and Four Wheel Driving 3.0 standards are below:

Australian Adventure Activity Standards

Development has started on Australia’s first national set of outdoor safety standards. Outdoors Victoria are coordinating the project supported by a steering committee made up of representatives from around the country. This three year project will run from 2015 to 2018. For updates go to http://australianaas.org.au/

All states will maintain their standards until the Australian Adventure Activity Standards are completed.

Versions

Each Standard has on its cover page its version number and publication date. Where a version is posted as version 1.0, for example, it means it is the first major published version. Where it is posted as version 1.1, 1.2... it means that there has been minor changes to the previously published version. Version 2.0 would be posted once a major review has been carried out.

Western Australian Adventure Activity Standards are available for the following outdoor adventure activities:

AAS _Quick Reference Ratio Guide V5 Jan 2014 (170 KB)

AAS Abseiling V2.0 Jan 2013 (545 KB)

AAS Artificial Surfaces Climbing V2.0 Jan 2013 (523 KB)

AAS Bushwalking V3.2 Feb 2017 (969 KB)

AAS Canoeing Kayaking Sea Kayaking V2.0 Jan 2013 (617 KB)

AAS Canyoning V2.0 Jan 2013 (618 KB)

AAS Caving V2.0 Jan 2013 (546 KB)

AAS Challenge Ropes Course V2.0 Jan 2013 (544 KB)

AAS Four Wheel Driving V3.0 Nov 2016 (756 KB)

AAS Horse Trail Riding V2.0 Jan 2013 (576 KB)

AAS Mountain Biking V2.0 Jan 2013 (559 KB)

AAS Rafting V2.0 Jan 2013 (583 KB)

AAS Recreational SCUBA Diving V1.0 Jul 2008 (232 KB)

AAS Rock Climbing V2.0 Jan 2013 (543 KB)

AAS Snorkelling and Wildlife Swims V1.2 Oct 2009 (227 KB)

AAS Surfing V2.0 Jan 2013 (547 KB)

AAS Trail Bike Touring V2.0 Jan 2013 (590 KB)

Serious Adventure Report (1584 KB)

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Update FAQ October 2016

Are the AAS going to required conditions of entry by land managers?

Do my friends and I need to comply with the AAS?

Do the AAS apply equally to commercial and non-commercially led groups?

Documentation is time consuming, will the AAS expect documentation?

How is National Outdoor Leadership Registration Scheme (NOLRS) linked to AAS? Will volunteer leaders and tour guides have to become registered with NOLRS to be able to lead groups?

How will the Adventure Activity Standards affect existing standards including Department of Education guidelines?

Now AAS are in place the inference is that leaders of multiple adventure activities such as tour guides, teachers and instructors, will have to be NOLRS registered in multiple activity specializations which may be time and cost prohibitive. What can be do

Were the Adventure Activity Standards developed in response to insurance or land access issues?

Why are the Adventure Activity Standards based in the competency-based system? Does AAS recognise other learning pathways such as tertiary education?

Will the Adventure Activity Standards be ‘Best Practice' in commercial terms?

AAS Templates and Resources

Additional resources for  activity providers and Reference Panels can be found under resources\AAS.