Challenge Course Safety: Factors Contributing to High Course Incidents: Training, Development, Delivery, and Program Philosophy

The introduction of challenge courses to the public and private education sectors ushered in a new focus on construction and safety standards. The Association for Challenge Course Technologies (ACCT) currently provides a series of standards related to challenge course construction techniques and appropriate materials, and is paving the way for national standardization of challenge course practices, and instructor training programs. While challenge course safety has improved significantly in the past forty years, there are some who have claimed these programs lack safety and quality control, resulting in a number of potential and actual accidents. The purpose of this book is to provide an initial accurate assessment of the relationship between challenge course incidents and: 1) type of belay system; 2) type of incident; 3) participant gender; and 4) participant age. The ultimate goal is to identify manageable factors that contribute to or increase participant exposure to actual risk and synthesize them in a useful, proactive way.