Continuing its tradition of providing premier outdoor experiential experiences while prioritizing safety, Outward Bound will co-sponsor the 20th Annual Wilderness Risk Management Conference (WRMC) September 30th – October 2nd in Jackson Hole, WY.
With 50 years as a leader in the experiential education industry, Outward Bound experts and staff will share lessons and safety principles they have developed in its five decades leading students on wilderness courses. Outward Bound uses the WRMC to build partnerships and provide its peers with valuable tools to help them continue to evolve the safety of their own programs, while garnering information on safety trends and progressions.
"The Wilderness Risk Management Conference helps Outward Bound to stay current with industry trends, understand public attitudes and to continue to grow our network of resources," Mark Vermeal, Vice President of safety for Outward Bound, said. “Outward Bound achieves its mission through challenge and adventure, and to accomplish that mission we must be able to preemptively identify hazards and mitigate the risks of the environments in which we travel while teaching our students to do the same.”
The WRMC is the only national conference with a sole focus on wilderness risk management, featuring hands-on, peer-driven presentations from a wide swath of safety experts and leaders from around the world.
In this year’s conference, both Mark Vermeal and Outward Bound’s Risk Management Officer, Steve Neal, will be making presentations. Vermeal will be presenting a targeted session on how to conduct emergency response simulations. During this interactive lecture, participants will gain an understanding of the value of utilizing simulations to prepare administrative staff to effectively manage critical incidents. Participants will be taught a framework for conducting simulations that highlight strengths and expose gaps in their incident management. Vermeal will discuss the benefits, relevant considerations and potential pitfalls of conducting simulations and also provide participants with a continuum of simulation models that can target incident management goals.
Steve Neal will be offering a session titled, “Blood borne and other Pathogens in the Back Country,” With long-time medical advisor to Outward Bound, Dr. David Johnson. This session will examine the Centers for Disease Control guidelines, and OSHA Standards related to Occupational Exposures. Steve will explore the importance of understanding the employer’s responsibilities related to exposure control practices, including having clear post-exposure follow-up planning, training, and field protocols. Dr. Johnson will review a variety of respiratory and contact exposures, and vector-borne Illnesses and diseases that may threaten both staff and students.
Since Outward Bound helped create the conference in 1992 with other leaders in the experiential education and conservation fields, the WRMC has attracted leaders, including: field instructors; administrators from outdoor programs, colleges, universities and secondary schools; professionals from the insurance industry; lawyers specializing in outdoor recreation, wilderness skills instruction and experiential education; professional mountain guides; wilderness medicine instruction providers; and state and federal land management agencies. Since its inception the conference continually has provided insight into trends and issues within the wilderness and wilderness-related industries. If you work in the outdoor industry or are embarking on a career in outdoor education, join us. You’ll be impressed with the quality of the presentations, breadth of topics and thoroughly pleased that you participated in this premier event.
WRMC 2013 brochure available to download here.
Click the banner below to register for the The Wilderness Risk Management Conference.
