Travel Blog

Risk management is arguably the most daunting process of preparing a proposal for your Overseas School Group Trip. But as a teacher, you know that preparing a risk management plan is not only required by your school, but also absolutely necessary for your student’s safety. It consists of well-defined steps which, when taken in sequence, support better decision making by contributing to a greater insight into risks and their impacts. Risk management processes are used to identify hazards and to assess and eliminate or control risks associated with activities.

Although the focus for risk management may differ from school to school, the same steps should be followed. The five essential steps of the risk management process are:

1. Hazard identification
2. Risk assessment
3. Risk elimination or control
4. Communicate the risk management plan
5. Monitoring and review

TIP: Exchange Me can assist you with the risk management plan. We have a fully detailed risk assessment for all travel components and can amend them for each individual group and destination.

Hazard Identification

Determination of the activities which will be undertaken as part of the overseas excursion and the hazards associated with those activities.

Risk Assessment

Consideration of the hazards mentioned in step one and assessing the risk level using the matrix below.

The CONSEQUENCES are to be identified using the following definitions:

• Insignificant -> No treatment required
• Minor -> Minor injury requiring First Aid treatment (e.g. minor cuts, bruises, bumps)
• Moderate -> Injury requiring medical treatment or lost time
• Major -> Serious injury / injuries requiring specialist medical treatment or hospitalisation
• Critical -> Loss of life, permanent disability or multiple serious injuries

The LIKELIHOOD is to be identified using the following definitions:

• Rare -> Will only occur in exceptional circumstances
• Unlikely -> Not likely to occur within the foreseeable future or within the project life-cycle
• Possible -> May occur within the foreseeable future or within the project life-cycle
• Likely -> Likely to occur within the foreseeable future or within the project life-cycle
• Almost certain -> Almost certain to occur within the foreseeable future or within the project life-cycle

Risk elimination or control

Explanation of how the risk will be eliminated or controlled with the following considerations:

• Level of adult supervision and support required
• Level of skills and training required by accompanying adults
• Resources needed
• Plans for addressing potential accident or injury
• Availability of support and services in the locality where the excursion is taking place
• Communication strategies where English is not the primary language spoken by locals
• How important is the activity to the excursion?

Communication of the Risk Management Plan

Determination of how and to whom the risk management plan will be communicated, considering the following stakeholders:

• Students and teachers or tour leaders travelling
• Parents and guardians
• School management board
• School travel company

Monitoring and Review

Monitor and identify hazards during the Overseas School Group Trip and review the risk management plan upon arrival.

If you haven’t prepared a risk management plan before, this description may be a bit confusing. This is why we have added a small example of the ‘transport’ section of our risk management plan for a better understanding. For the full risk management sample, please contact us.