It is the responsibility of the Visit Leader to prepare a specific risk assessment for all aspects of an Overseas Visit for which they are taking direct responsibility. It is very difficult to do this without a pre-visit, or comprehensive researching of any relevant information available from: travel agents, tour operators, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Embassies, The British Council, or from other leaders who have undertaken similar trips.
Tour operators are responsible for risk assessing the aspects of the trip for which they are responsible. Visit Leaders should check that risk assessments are in place.
Visit Leaders are responsible for recording significant and foreseeable risks specific to their visit. This process should where possible involve accompanying adults and participants.
Assessing and managing risk is an important aspect of young people’s development and involving children and young people in the risk assessment process should be an integral aspect of preparing them for an off-site visit. Having an understanding of the risks, and co creating relevant control measures with participants, is more likely to result in children and young people complying with those measures. Even the youngest learners can be involved in the risk assessment process – examples of this process can be found in the Involving children and young people in planning off-site visits Toolkit.
This should take into account:
- The participants (including leaders and helpers)
- The venue
- The culture
- The accommodation (in terms of how it affects the group)
- The food and drinking water
- Possible medical emergencies
- The activity
- Transport (to get there and in-country)
- Time of year
The findings of the risk assessment and the relevant precautions/controls should be agreed upon and understood by all participants including accompanying adults (and parents where appropriate) and be reflected in the Visit Plan.
Sample risk assessments can be found within the Toolkits section.
