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ACCREDITATION

Business Accreditation

For businesses that have been operating for several years, business accreditation should be considered. For business start-ups, the accreditation documentation is a comprehensive program that covers good business practices and processes across all areas. Check this out as it can help in the longer term if you intend to stay in business and be a profitable operator.

This section provides an overview of business accreditation schemes and professional registration for individuals in the outdoor recreation and education industry in Australia.

Overview

Accreditation is concerned with the entire operation of an organisation, such as business practice, legal compliance, activity standards (eg, AAS) and individual skills (eg, NOLRS). One of the main aims of accreditation is to inform clients, agencies, landholders and insurers that organisation’s are conducting their programs in a manner that is considered acceptable to the industry.

Some of the benefits of accreditation are to:

• Improve all aspects of your organisation through rigorous internal and external review
• Gain confidence knowing all aspects of your organisation (eg. equipment management, business management, legislative procedures) meets industry guidelines
• Support guidelines and a "self-policing" process that minimises the chance of outside entities regulating the profession
• Gain access to public lands where government agencies require accreditation as criteria for acquiring special business or use permits
• Facilitates access to and possible discounts on insurance
• Recognised industry-wide standard
• Produces Procedures Manual for entire organisation
• Point of difference / reassurance for clients.

Australian Campsite and Outdoor Activity Provider Accreditation

The national accreditation program that has emerged is based on a program developed and implemented in 1988 by the Camping Association of Victoria (CAV) and more recently by the Outdoor Recreation Industry Council (ORIC) in NSW. The program is designed for organisations that may have a campsite facility, operate holiday activity programs and outdoor activity and recreation providers. The program has been reviewed and approved by the Department of Education and Training (DET) Victoria and the Australian Tourism Accreditation Association (ATAA). ACOP is available to campsites and outdoor activity providers in a CD ROM format.

For information on ACOP go to the Australian Camps Association’s website auscamps.asn.au/accreditation/accreditation.html or contact the ACA on 03 9350 1700.

Tourism Accreditation

Tourism Accreditation is a process designed to establish and continually improve industry standards for conducting tourism businesses.

It is a voluntary process designed to establish minimum industry standards, standards that act as a 'quality benchmark' for all Australian Tourism Operators conducting a tourism business. The Better Business Accreditation Program covers tour operators, attractions, accommodation, retail, wineries (cellar door sales) and visitor information centres. These standards were established by the tourism industry to provide a model for better business practices and customer service. The Tourism Accreditation Board of Victoria Inc (TABV) administers the Accreditation Program.

For more information regarding Tourism Accreditation visit the following website tourismaccreditationvic.com.au or contact the Board on 03 9620 4199 or email: info@tourismaccreditationvic.com.au

Activity Guidelines

Central to every organisation conducting adventure activities for groups (and a key element of all appropriate accreditation) are the guidelines that the industry agrees to operate within to promote consistency. The Victorian Adventure Activity Standards (AAS) are being facilitated and managed by the Outdoor Recreation Centre Inc in conjunction with a broad range of activity specific experts, peak bodies, training providers, risk managers and others.

The AAS are endorsed by national peak bodies such as Australian Canoeing but at this point are not national standards. The aim of AAS is to identify and communicate standards of operation and describe duty of care in relation to specific “adventurous” activities taking into account existing guidelines such as Department of Education and Training and organisation specific operating procedures.

The standards cover aspects of planning, provision of equipment and the environment as well as the activity leader’s knowledge, skills and the way he/she conducts the activity. For more details on AAS check out the “standards” at the Outdoor Recreation Centre’s website orc.org.au/aas for the most recent update.

Professional Registration

Within every Adventure Activity Standard is the expectation that the leader of a group has the appropriate skills and experience to conduct the activities safely and achieve the expected outcomes. Individual activities have different pathways by which it’s leaders can demonstrate these skills and they may include community awards, university degrees, TAFE courses, ‘In-house’ training by employers, overseas qualifications and many more.

For this reason, the Adventure Activity Standards have been developed to describe the skills accepted rather than requiring any specific pathway. This is achieved by establishing ‘clusters’ of units used by peak bodies such as Australian Canoeing, or from the National Outdoor Recreation Training Package’ and where available, the clusters established by the National Outdoor Leaders Registration Scheme (NOLRS). The intention is to provide clarity in expectations specific to each activity.

The most important consideration is that leaders and guides can demonstrate that they have the competence, skill and experienced required to be conducting the activity in the environment that they are operating within.

The National Outdoor Leaders Registration Scheme (NOLRS)

For over 10 years now there has been talk of a registration scheme for individuals conducting activities in the outdoors. The latest form this scheme has taken is the National Outdoor Leader Registration Scheme (NOLRS). This scheme has been developed through years of consultation with members and representatives of the Outdoor Recreation/Education community.

NOLRS is being implemented in Queensland, WA and NSW with the trialling of five activity areas; abseiling (on artificial surfaces), abseiling (on natural surfaces), bushwalking, challenge ropes courses (low and high) and climbing (on artificial surfaces). These activities were selected as they represented activities that were commonly conducted in the outdoors, yet had no regulation by a governing body. For each activity, registration may be achieved at a number of levels (eg, single pitch, multi pitch, low ropes, high ropes). Completion of a cluster of units of competency from the Outdoor Recreation Industry Training Package (SRO03) will create a pathway to registration in an activity at a particular level.

The aim of NOLRS is to provide a quick and easy method of identifying people that are committed to providing quality outdoor experiences and are conducting outdoor activities in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. The NOLRS will focus on a person’s ability to lead reliant clients participating in outdoor adventure activities and will not include a process for the registration of those with “participation” skills only.

There are many benefits in creating and supporting a national registration scheme. These include:

• The development of a scheme that has nationally recognised outcomes and is accessible to all
• A process to monitor “currency of skills”
• A process that recognises existing training and experience and aids in the identification of “gaps” in experience and training outcomes
• A database that may be accessed to identify people who have met a minimum standard of skill and knowledge
• The collation of data that can be used by planners and policy makers to gain a more accurate picture of the number of persons involved in leading outdoor activities and the level and nature of the activity which they are leading
• The development of a more professional image throughout the nation and across a variety of outdoor activities.

On a more personal level benefits may include:

• Recognition of existing experience that may be put towards future training or qualifications (anywhere in Australia)
• Possible international recognition of experience by other countries (eg, New Zealand, United Kingdom) that have adopted a competency based training system
• Possible discount schemes (retail, legal, insurance, training)
• Possible improvements in areas including networking, work conditions, job opportunities and pay rates.

One of the biggest hurdles to implementing the registration scheme has been the development of an effective recognition process (ie, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and/or Recognition of Current Competencies (RCC)). That is, a process that allowed the existing skills and knowledge of applicants to be recognised, rather than forcing everyone down the path of further training. This process is currently being trialled through a number of workshops in Queensland. In addition to demonstrated skills and knowledge registered leaders will need to abide by a Code of Ethics and a Code of Practice.

NOLRS is currently being finalised, however there are still a few details to be negotiated including costs and products. More details about the scheme can be found on the Queensland Outdoor Recreation Federation’s website. QORF- NOLRS

The Outdoor Recreation Centre is likely to introduce the NOLRS process to Victoria and is always keen to discuss the issue of recognition or registration to ensure that the benefits of the leaders registration are optimised. If you have any views on this important process please email info@orc.org.au.

Note: Current as of May 2006. This material is produced with the kind permission of the Queensland Outdoor Recreation Federation from its website.

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