This information sets out what High Ropes Adventure & the Health and Safety Commission’s Adventure Activities Industry Advisory Committee (AAIAC) considers good practice for the management of safety during activities involving ‘ropes courses’.

Ultimately it is High Ropes Adventure responsibility, as the activity provider to ensure those taking part in the activity, including those leading the activity & spectators do not come to harm. One of the key factors in ensuring safety is the provision of suitable and sufficient supervision. Such supervision, and the expertise of those supervising, will be appropriate to individual circumstances and determined by the findings of our risk assessment.

High Ropes Adventure ensures that instructors are equipped with the skills necessary to deal with any reasonably foreseeable occurrences. It is important that we identify the levels of competence instructors need to be able to ensure safety during activities. Our risk assessment detects the individual hazards. We carry out training on the ropes course and include practical incident and accident scenarios and responses.
Qualifications are just one way of showing competence. It is unlikely that a single qualification will be adequate so a combination of qualifications is be necessary. Practical experience gained over the years is also considered as a way of showing competence. All courses are different, therefore site specific training and assessment of competence is undertaken for all instructors and supervisors

High Ropes Adventure have in place a policy for identifying the competence, experience, special needs, physical and medical condition of the participants. Once this assessment has been completed, a decision on which activities or levels of difficulty will suit the group can be made. We may need to refuse to provide an activity for a group if the group does not have the necessary competencies or skills needed to undertake the activity safely.

High Ropes Adventure has a policy for checking any conditions that may require a participant to receive special attention. They may need greater supervision or may even need to be excluded from the activity.

High Ropes Adventure limit the number of participants in a group per instructor, taking into account group management difficulties on particular sections of the course or with particular groups. If a group is too large, two separate groups will be formed, each with an instructor, so that mutual support is available if required. The use of assistants may help group management, but the responsibilities of assistants need to match their levels of competence.

Participants will be told how they can help ensure their own safety. Instructors will give a presentation on the various safety aspects of the activity, covering all the relevant information. Participants will be made aware of the dangers and, where possible, be prevented from accessing the ropes course without the supervision of an instructor. Instructors will deliver relevant instructions step-by-step at each section, rather than all in one briefing.

assessment HSE Books 1999 ISBN 0 7176 2463 3

Practice and guidance L22 (Second edition) HSE Books

1998 ISBN 0 7176 1626 6