Nothing Ventured (William Warwick Novels, 1)

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A mindset that is solely focused onsafety does children and young peopleno favours. Far from keeping them safefrom harm, it can deny them the veryexperiences that help them to learn howto handle the challenges that life maythrow at them. There is an emergingconsensus that our society has becometoo focused on reducing or eliminatingrisk in childhood. And research suggeststhat overprotecting children can lead tolonger-term problems with mental healthand well-being.

While William follows the trail of the missing masterpiece, he comes up against suave art collector Miles Faulkner and his brilliant lawyer, Booth Watson QC, who are willing to bend the law to breaking point to stay one step ahead of William. Meanwhile, Miles Faulkner’s wife, Christina, befriends William, but whose side is she really on? Nothing Ventured... Balancing risks andbenefits in the outdoors aims toencourage readers to take a reasonableand proportionate approach to safety inoutdoor and adventurous settings, andto reassure them that managing risksshould not be a disincentive toorganising activities. It is not a ‘how toguide’. Rather, at a time when manywonder whether society has gone too farin trying to keep children safe from allpossible harm, Nothing Ventured... addsits voice to the call for a more balancedapproach: an approach that accepts thata degree of risk – properly managed – isnot only inevitable, but positivelydesirable.

The form has, according to KathleenNicol, Training & Quality Manager atEnable Scotland, made a realdifference to the approach of staff. Shesays: “Usually the penny drops aboutthe advantages of risk taking and theimportance of not wrapping people upin cotton wool.” Paul Airey, Diana Airey, Roberto Amoroso, BobBurson, Andy Carden, John Garrett, OwenHayward, Martin Hore, Andy Lavin, Karl Midlane,Ian Park, Dave Scourfield, Derek Stansfield, AndyStubbs, Bob Telfer, Mark Williams, RandallWilliams, Simon Willis, Adventure ActivityLicensing Service, Blue Peris Mountain Centre,Conway Centre, Nant Bwlch yr Haearn OutdoorEducation Centre, National Association ofHeadteachers, Low Bank Ground & HinningHouse team, Girlguiding UK, Association ofHeads of Outdoor Education Centres, OutdoorEducation Advisers Panel, Luke Lane PrimarySchool, New Greenhall School, Dee PointPrimary School, Trinity School, The Lakes Schooland Sports College, Thurston Outdoor EducationCentre, Ysgol Y Bont, Ynys Môn, West Cheshireand Chester Residential and Outdoor Service,Field Studies Council. Myths and confusion are not the onlyproblems. Trees really are being cutdown, hanging baskets are beingremoved and schools are banningplayground games, all because of amisguided grasp by some individuals ofthe concept of health and safety.Although the climate is improving, thereare still unnecessary barriers to givingchildren and young people the kinds oflearning opportunities that will fostertheir competences and resilience, andgive them a greater sense ofresponsibility for their actions. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE)supports over 275,000 people aged14-24 in a programme that, accordingto the charity, “aims to instil a spirit ofadventure, and have a lasting impacton young people’s behaviours, skillsand life chances”. A key part of itsprogramme is for participants to carryout an unaccompanied expedition thatmust be completed through theparticipants’ own physical efforts. TheDofE’s Expedition Handbook is clearthat “adventure and discovery alwaysinvolve some measure of risk”, thatexpeditions should involve respondingto a challenge, and that one of thebenefits of doing an expedition is thatparticipants learn to manage risk.While the initial level of challenge isdetermined by the team, “the weatherand the demanding surroundings inwhich the expedition takes placealways necessitates the teamresponding to a series of unforeseenchallenges.” The Expedition Guide alsostates that, of all the qualities entailedin the safety and well-being ofparticipants doing DofE expeditions,“that of sound judgement is the mostimportant. Sound judgement, alongwith responsibility and maturity, arisesfrom effective training coupled withprogressive and varied experience overa period of time. It cannot developunless there are opportunities toexercise judgement.” English Outdoor Council, in cooperationwith the Outdoor Education Advisers’Panel (2005) High Quality OutdoorEducation

Looking at school visits, on average,out of around 7-10 million days ofactivities by children and young peoplewho take part, there are perhaps twoor three fatalities a year, of which onaverage only one is directly related tothe adventure activity itself. (A similarproportion is related to traffic casualtiesthat occur while travelling to and fromvisits.) This means that – taking intoaccount the amount of time spentparticipating in such activities – thelikelihood of a fatality is about the sameas in everyday life. To put it anotherway: on a typical school visit, thechildren who take part are at nogreater risk of death than theirschoolmates who have stayed behind. References andfurther informationBall, David, Gill, Tim and Spiegal,Bernard (2008) Managing Risk in PlayProvision Implementation Guide Professional awareness of risk-benefitassessment has grown considerablybecause of work on playground safety.However, it has long been implicit in theethos and goals of agencies such asthose providing adventurous andoutdoor activities, and has beenelaborated theoretically in the form of a‘triangle of risk’ (benefits, hazards andcontrol measures). The University ofCentral Lancashire, which providesdegree courses for outdoorprofessionals, recognises that studentshave to encounter risks if they areto become well-equipped to supportexperiential learning once they havequalified. Hence it plans to introducerisk-benefit assessment into its riskmanagement systems. The approach isalso being put into action elsewhere. Worcestershire’s guidance, likeManaging Risk in Play ProvisionImplementation Guide, advises againsttechnical or numerical scoring systems,stating that:

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The next generation is tomorrow’s workforce. Helping young people to experience and handle risk is part of preparing them foradult life and the world of work. Young people can gain this experience from participating in challenging and exciting outdoorevents made possible by organisations prepared to adopt a common sense and proportionate approach that balancesbenefits and risk. I support this publication for the encouragement that it gives to everyone to adopt such an approach.