Outdoor education fatalities in Australia 1960–2002 Part 3: Environmental circumstances

Abstract

This article, the third in a series, examines 114 outdoor education related fatalities in Australia in the period 1960-2002. It reviews the environmental circumstances in which fatalities have occurred, and the extent to which environmental circumstances contributed to fatal incidents. All of the accidental deaths (104) could be linked to particular environmental circumstances. The paper reviews the patterns of environmental circumstances that have been associated with fatal incidents. It concludes that in outdoor education knowledge of particular environments is more important for fatality prevention than knowledge of outdoor recreation activities (although the latter may imply the former in some cases). At least one third of the accidental (non motor vehicle) deaths appeared preventable given specific local knowledge. The study shows that there is a geography of fatality risk, and that improved prevention requires more attention to regional or local considerations. The study provides no support for the contention that more general approaches to fatality prevention (national rather than state or regional) would be intrinsically more effective than more local approaches; the opposite appears true.