Why I Decided To Drop Out Of AALA Inspections

The simple answer is that the Adventure Activity Licensing Authority, part of the HSE, are not fit for purpose. They have few powers and in my experience, they are simply a shopfront selling licenses and endorsements of a providers fitness to operate. The AALA issues certificates of accreditation to many who really ought to be encouraged to do better. The client, and worse still the parent, knows not of the politics and so is duped into believing that all license holders are ‘excellent’ providers that work to an approved standard. This is simply not the case.

I used to own a successful multi-activity business. I decided to not renew my AALA license following a bitter dispute of many years in which I wanted AALA to enforce appropriate footwear for gorge walking, a large part of my business. They would not and so every working day in the gorge I witnessed poor provision, injury and incidents, and over time I gravitated away from the river and to the sea where I was THE ONLY provider in the UK to guarantee a Mountain Leader and Beach Lifeguard present for each group that I had coasteering. This sensible approach to delivery, with the appropriate qualifications and kit, was not followed by peers as they, for example, could not swim fast enough to gain a beach lifeguard qualification and/or did not want to invest in separate watersport helmets. They therefore wrote their own risk assessments highlighting that they had been in-house assessed for sea rescue skills and made no mention of what type of helmet would be used for the activity. The licensing authority are fine and dandy with this approach…

Adventure Activity In Wales Is Dangerous

Wales Outdoors has been working in activity tourism in Wales and beyond for thirty years. We’ve been adventure activity professionals, a licensed provider, and an industry leader and innovator. But we won’t have anything to do with the adventure activity industry now.

Adventure Activity provision in Wales is dangerous. There, I’ve said it. Gorge Walking provision is, on occasion, a disgrace, with the technical advisors allowing inappropriate footwear out of operational and financial convenience to the provider. This woeful provision, according to Mountain Rescue Teams, is the main cause of injury within gorge environments.

I was recently contacted by a Devon based coasteering business that was building a national website of coasteering provision. They wanted Wales Outdoors to be included but I had to decline, having stopped coasteering provision a few years back. I told them I could not recommend anyone as I believed coasteering in Wales was dangerous. They agreed, they had searched but could not find any suitable business to include, suitable being a safe and best practice level of provision.

Why Is It Dangerous?

Wales Outdoors was the only coasteering provider in Wales that guaranteed a staff ratio of 1:8 and a beach life guard and mountain leader present for all groups. We also provided boots for the activity and used watersport helmets. Most coasteering providers in Wales ask clients to turn up in old trainers have a staff to client ratio of 1:12 or more, use a mish mash of climbing helmets (I’ve even seen cycling helmets) and none guarantee mountain leaders and beach life guards present.

I complained to the fledgling NGB, now the National Coasteering Charter, and they outrageously said that for economic reasons they would not be pushing for businesses to work to the standard that Wales Outdoors set. This is why adventure activities in Wales and likely across the entirety of the UK are dangerous. It’s all about the economics.

And Then There Is The Cartel

My provision increasingly moved away from young people and eventually focused solely on adults. UK law is such that if working with adults an adventure activity provider does not need to be licensed. So, I wrote to the licensing authority one last time, attacking them for their lack of action over safety issues outlined by myself and my peer group, over very many years, and stating that I would not be renewing my license but that I would reconsider this position if they took action on safety.

SWOAPG, the provider’s group in the Brecon Beacons and South Wales that was first envisioned by Wales Outdoors and after many years guided into being in conjunction with the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority and the Wales Outdoors led peer group, then cut a deal with the landowner, Natural Resources Wales, for what had been a free to use gorge environment and made membership of SWOAPG a condition of use, so making this a pay for venue. I am wholly against access charges for use of the great outdoors and for me this was the final straw, especially as SWOAPG did not take any policing action against errant providers working outside of the collectively developed rules of use (group size, parking and changing arrangements, route etc). My walking business was taking off and so I jumped ship, away from adventure activities and to the sole provision of guided mountain walks in Wales.

SWOAPG are, in my opinion, a cartel, working to the direction of the larger businesses, with policies that make zero client or environmental sense, such as the quota for gorge walking in the river Mellte. Members sitting on the steering group regularly delivered activities outside of the group’s own rules. And the authorities that also sit on the steering group, such as Natural Resources Wales and the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority are fine with this state of affairs.

The Bottom Line

Nowadays I do not deliver adventure activity and I have no intention of revisiting this industry. There has been no change, no improvement in safety, and I see the technical advisors who profit from AALA inspections as self-serving and responsible for the delivery of contrary protocols that suit each provider’s choices rather than best practice that benefits the client’s comfort and safety.

Outrageous Claims Made By AALA

• Appropriate footwear for any activity is not enforceable

• Walking boots do not offer any greater protection than gym shoes

• Helmet choice is for the provider to decide

• Staff to Client ratios are for the provider to decide

• If you don’t like your technical advisor’s advice then contract in another

• Change your risk assessments to fit your provision

You can book our walks through the Wales Outdoors Website or, if you are a group, you can book us for a bespoke adventure, you choose the date and time, using the ‘Book Your Guide’ option.

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