Well the Welsh Assembly announced today that it is ignoring the advice from the Lord Young’s report on Common Sense, Common Safety that essentially recommended to the Adventure Training Sector (See page 36), that the government abolish the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority, and replace it with a Code of Practice that could be self-assessed.
However a statement by the Welsh Government read like this:
“As you will be well aware from discussions at the group, the decision whether to abolish or retain adventure activities licensing in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Government. I can now advise you that, after careful consideration, the Welsh Ministers have decided that they wish to retain adventure activities licensing in respect of Wales. Clearly, this decision does not affect the question of the future of adventure activities licensing in Scotland and England, which is a matter between the UK and Scottish Governments and still to be resolved. Our Ministers are mindful that the system for the management of adventurous activities in the UK is becoming more differentiated and will watch with interest the systems which develop in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and take these into account when, in due course, the licensing system is reviewed.”
This brings into question, especially for a small businesses like mine, who in the past an AALA license has been prohibitively expensive, as I get about two requests a year to teach young people how to climb, something that I have done regularly for other centres with an AALA licence. A self certification may well have been more financially viable alternative.
A spokes person for the institute of outdoor learning has already seen a potential problem and possible loophole in the system. In that if I had an English address I would come under the English legislation which is set to abolish AALA. However what would happen if like for many centre they came across the border to Wales to carrier out the activities. Would they be required to comply by Welsh Law, if so who would police this system, or a much wider question of is it even policeable?
Marcus Baille from the HSE Adventure Licensing Service has put the risk into real perspective, here. 1420 youngster a year die in the UK through accidental or sudden death, 700 of these are road related, 200 happen at home, 200 suffer skin cancer, 140 suffocation, 125 poisoning, 110 commit suicide (these are not part of the 1420), 90 Drown, 80 are burnt to death in fires, 70 children die from fall related injuries, 50 kids are killed and 3 die on school trips.
Of those three that die on school trip, 1 is attributed to some form of road traffic accident, and there are no official statistics of the number that die at an activities centre, although last year, one child died on a canoeing trip, although the activity wasn’t to blame, as the result of an inquest pointed towards a unknown medical condition. This prompted the Guardian to write, ‘Just about the safest place for a child is on a school trip.’
ALAA was set up after the very tragic and ultimately totally avoidable accident at the Lyme Bay Adventure Centre, back in 1993, after the Lyme Bay Tragedy where four teenage died. It was the first and one of the few successful cases where the managing director of the company was prosecuted under ‘corporate manslaughter’ for what was essentially gross negligence.
ALAA was established to stop such tragic incidents occurring today, however there are still a few tragic accidents and some that are arguably avoidable that happen in ALAA licensed centres. (Caving Tragedy in Yorkshire and Pool jumping death in Scotland). However these are few and far between, as the statistics point out.
My point is that in spite of ALAA these accidents have still happened, and Lord Young obviously see’s this and recommends not wasting the £750000 a year it cost to run ALAA, instead relying on a self-certificating system. However for some reason the Welsh Government seems to be against the idea, my question to you is whether it is doing the right or wrong thing? Add you views as a comment.