January 2012
Investigate sector interest, likely engagement and concerns about a sector wide incident reporting system.
Context
In June 2010 the Department of Labour released the Review of Risk Management and Safety in the Adventure and Outdoor Commercial Sectors in NZ final report (Adventure Tourism Review). In the report the review team identified a number of areas where change could improve safety.
One of the key recommendations was that better and more consistent information on and for the adventure and outdoor commercial sectors is collected, collated and disseminated.
Outdoors New Zealand has a contract with the Department of Labour (DOL) for the delivery of this key recommendation.
The first outcome that Outdoors NZ has been contracted to undertake is to lead an investigation of sector interest, likely engagement and concerns about a sector wide incident reporting system.
This base line investigation is due for completion in the middle of February. Consultation with the adventure tourism and outdoor commercial sector will commence in March.
The output from the project will be a peer-reviewed report for the Department of Labour that will include a presentation of recommendations.
Discussion
It has come to the attention of Outdoors NZ that current users of the National Incident Database (NID) have expressed concerns over its future regarding the outcome of the review.
Outdoors NZ has not been contracted to develop a new system and we have no authority to initiate any change to existing systems. The goal of the initiative is to improve what currently exists.
Outdoor NZ recognises the importance of retaining the data collected to date and encourages the continued use of the National Incident Database so that your organisation can record, analyse, and learn from outdoor incidents.
The review has clearly identified that what currently exists in New Zealand can be improved. This investigation has been commissioned to provide direction as to what improvements could be made and what resources would be required to make them.
Outdoors NZ is currently researching existing incident reporting systems nationally and internationally, looking for synergies across collection agencies and developing a list of principles that underlie current systems.
There are a number of incident reporting systems in NZ that are specifically designed to collect information from and for the outdoor sector. Outdoors NZ has been working closely with the agencies that provide these (specifically Water Safety NZ and the NZ Mountain Safety Council).