Heath and Safety
Safety and First-Aid
All Keystone Adventures staff-members have received first-aid training, and the majority of them hold advanced wilderness first-aid certifications (such as Wilderness First Aid and Wilderness First Responder). Keystone Adventures ensures there is always a staff-member who can assist an injured or ill person and has current qualifications covering the clients’ first aid requirements. All Keystone staff-members carry fully-stocked first aid kits at all times. Finally, we have comprehensive critical incident and evacuation plans covering all activities and locations. Staff are training on carrying out these procedures in different scenarios as part of our semi-annual staff training sessions.
Child Safeguarding
Keystone Adventures has a comprehensive child safeguarding policy. All staff receive training in our policies and sign a code of conduct open starting employment. We are committed to working with relevant organizations, to take all necessary steps to ensure that the legal and pastoral duties owed to children in respect of child protection and safeguarding are discharged in accordance with current legislation and best practice. We encourage an ethos in our company and on our programs where students feel safe and secure and where they are able to communicate any problems or concerns they have to a responsible staff member or teacher in the school. The purpose of this policy is to provide consistent guidance on dealing with potential child protection issues and the promotion of child safeguarding and welfare in our business operations.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Our commitment to safety and risk management requires an ongoing process of re-evaluation, learning, adjusting, and improving in order to enhance safety without losing the adventure qualities of our trips. All of our technical activities such as rock climbing, mountaineering, and whitewater components are under the direction of highly competent, professional staff members. We have spent several years developing and fine-tuning our SOPs, and all activity leaders receive in-depth training in them throughout the work season
Risk Assessments
Keystone Adventures completes risk assessments for all programs, taking not only safety into account, but availability of quality food and water, distance to emergency medical care, evacuation procedures, transportation infrastructure, etc. We strive to exceed industry standards and we always provide 24-hour support while our programs are operating. These risk assessments include all activities which might take place on a given program and take location-specific hazards into account. We are happy to provide a copy of these risk assessments to our clients, including a summary table of every activity (and its corresponding risk value).
Before participating in an activity, students receive a safety briefing that reviews possible risks involved in the activity and the procedures used to minimize those risks. Evidence shows that participants in a given activity perform in a safer and more responsible manner once informed of the potential dangers of an activity and the possible consequences of an accident.
In addition, our student-to-leader ratio is kept low in order to closely manage safety and enable our instructors to identify and negotiate potential problems. Keystone Adventures receives the most current travel advice from local staff members and we adjust itineraries when appropriate to maintain the highest standards of safety. Our staff members hold certifications from the following organizations:
