Research update: Outdoor education fatalities in Australia

Abstract

This paper is part of an on-going project to examine outdoor education related deaths in Australia since 1960. It records eleven incidents not included in previous papers in this series. A total of 14 students or staff died in the incidents. The paper reviews the incidents and identifies what further lessons can be learned about fatality prevention when these are added to the 114 fatalities previously analysed. Several incidents differed from those previously recorded: an incident of suicide reportedly following bullying on a school camp, two deaths from food-induced anaphylactic shock, and one death apparently from hyperthermia. It discusses some examples of a trend in the news media to focus on the impact of tragedy on families and survivors. Taking into account some new and previously unrecorded incidents, it argues that deaths from falling trees and branches should be considered as a distinct phenomenon in Australian outdoor education, and more attention devoted to prevention. It suggests that deaths due to drowning as part of an end-of-school-year activity be considered a distinct syndrome. Previous conclusions about supervision of teenagers in hazardous conditions, the significant proportion of deaths due to motor vehicle incidents, and the importance of planning for outside assistance are re-emphasized. It concludes that the study of fatal incidents remains essential to fatality prevention.