Today was the last day of the WRMC. In the morning I went to a great workshop with Tod Schimelpfenig of NOLS and Chris Barnes of the High Mountain Institute entitled "Using Risk Management Concepts in Outdoor Programming." This was a great synopsis of some of the major Risk Management principles including:

  • Consequence = Frequency * Severity
  • Risk Homeostasis Theory - the idea that people have a target risk level and will modify their behavior to stay at the target risk level
  • Decision Making Aids - like the Avalanche Triangle (Snowpack, Weather, Terrain, People)
  • Rules of Thumb or Heuristics

Within each of these we spent time in small groups talking about how they could be part of our program's risk management plan.

Then I went to a workshop by Colin Powell from the University of Wales entitled "Utilizing the Perception of Risk to Enhance Incident Prevention strategies." Colin covered a lot of research, primarily from the UK, showing how different people's interpretation of risk affects accident potential.

The last workshop session of the day was with Rob Chatfield and Michael Lindsey of Outward Bound and called "Scenario Planning and Emergency Response." The goal of the workshop was to have the group experience and respond to an emergency. We split into two groups, one representing a fictitious outdoor program called K.LO.D. with individual roles of Executive Director, Communications Director, Program Director, Director of Admissions, Legal Counsel and President of the Board of Trustees. The other group role played people outside of the program including TV and newspaper reporters, parents of participants in the K.L.O.D. program. The scenario was an outdoor program with at risk youth that had a death. The press and parents started calling the organization and we had to respond (I got to play the Executive Director). It was definitely a 'hot seat" simulation for all of us.

The last part of the program was a tremendous keynote speaker by Dave Uberauga, the Park Superintendent at Mount Ranier National Park. Dave has been attending the WRMC conferences and is on the Wilderness Risk Management Committee. He is a passionate conservationist who understands the value of wilderness exploration and the value of the work we do. He has also gained a lot of information from the WRMC conferences which has made its way into the larger National Park System. The group gave Dave a standing ovation for his inspiring words and his sincere dedication to public service for our public lands.

That's my quick takes on this year's WIlderness Risk Management Conference. Next year's conference will be October 1-3 in Jackson, Wyoming. Make sure you're there!