Afterwards: Document and Follow-up

Afterwards: Document and Follow-up

Documenting Incidents, Near Misses, and Concerns may help others avoid a similar situation.

Nearly all trips end successfully. Trip leaders will often write a trip report, and participants are encouraged to complete a trip survey to provide feedback for the leader. Please acknowledge what went well and suggest what might be improved.

For those trips where difficulties or problems were encountered, trip leaders and participants should submit reports describing incidents, near misses, and concerns.

When reporting, please give as much detail about the incident or concern as possible. Do report even seemingly minor "near misses." If you have any doubt, do send us a report... it might just help prevent someone else from having a similar incident or worse.

Include any "take-aways" or "lessons learned" in the reports. Was there anything that might have reduced or eliminated the chance of an incident?  Is there anything that you would want the next Mountaineer party to know about?

Leaders

If there was an incident or accident on your activity, please file an Incident Report using the link on the "Roster" view of the activity where the incidents occurred. Navigate to this activity on the My Activities tab on your My Profile page.

Participants 

If there was an incident or accident during an activity or if you have a safety concern about an activity course or event, please let us know by reporting it on the feedback surveys available on your My Activities and My Courses pages. Visit our Feedback Surveys page to learn more.

Often, a branch safety officer will follow up with members in the party for further information and clarification. They usually will use email but occasionally will call. 

The Safety Committee collects, analyzes and reports on data for "near miss" incidents and accidents reported by our leaders. The committee looks for trends, identifies potential safety issues, and makes recommendations in hopes of preventing future incidents and accidents. View our Safety Reports archive for the annual reports and recommendations, and for other helpful information.

The Mountaineer CEO gets involved whenever a trip participant is gravely injured. See the Mountaineers Critical Incident Response Plan for details.