Derek Cheng: Adventure tourism rules a small price to pay for safety

File photo / The Aucklander

You can't legislate for stupidity, freak occurrences, or the weather, which all invariably play a part in outdoor activities - people who can't follow basic instructions, water surges that push you to a dangerous part of the river, clear summit days that turn to a stormy nightmare in the blink of an eye.

The Government's proposal to regulate the adventure tourism industry has to taken in the context that adventure sports have an inherent danger. On the day, anything can happen. Between 2004 and 2009, 39 people died in New Zealand while doing outdoor activities.

Four years ago I did the Mad Dog River Boarding, which two years ago tragically claimed the life of a British tourist. It is an exhilarating experience of floating through freezing river rapids on a boogie-board, but at one point I was sucked under the current and had to cling to my board, which eventually brought me back to the surface.

Hang-gliders and paragliders are susceptible to random gusts of wind that can cause the pilot to lose control. I've had pieces of rock slam into my helmet while rock-climbing, and pulled large chunks of rock from a cliff face that sent fellow climbers scattering for cover 50m below.

I've swum with dolphins and launched myself off bridges and into canyons as well with no hint of any threat to myself.

The Government's proposal is a virtual admission that the current rules are too relaxed; aside from health and safety requirements, some sectors have strict guidelines - adventure aviation, jet-boating, rafting - but others have none at all.

There are no guidelines or standards for hot air ballooning, bridge swinging, luge riding/go-karting, swimming with dolphins, motorcycle-touring, sand-boarding, surfing or water skiing.

Where there are guidelines, they are voluntary and uptake is sometimes poor (indoor rock-climbing, mountain biking and quad bike touring).

Relevant associations that could oversee broad-based safety regulations do not exist for many activities including canyoning, quad bike touring, horse trekking, indoor rock climbing, and bridge-swinging.

All these shortfalls are what Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson, while rightly describing the industry as having a good overall safety record, calls gaps in the system.

While some of these activities may seem to be as dangerous as crossing the road, others have had high profile accidents and even deaths, including horse trekking, bridge-swinging and river-boarding.

Tourists sign up for activities to experience that sort of rush, but also in the belief they will be kept as safe as practically possible.

The compulsory register scheme is one way to ensure that, and it has the backing of Tourism Industry Association.

About 1500 commercial adventure tourism operators would all have to sign on and pass a safety audit that included a risk-assessment and a risk-management plan.

Of course, the finer details of how it would work are still to be determined, but the broad plan is a good one.

Compliance costs would vary, based on how risky the activity on offer is, but the sign-up would only cost a few hundred.

The audit could be as high as $2200 initially, but subsequent audits would be half the initial price.

The scheme, which would cost between $150,000 and $250,000 to set up, would be much more effective than the voluntary accreditation system at present.

It seems a small price to pay to ensure that a $3 billion industry that attracts some 850,000 people every year is as safe as possible and has a robust and reliable safety net.

If anything, it would prevent any joker from buying some rusty tricycles and taking tourists through the Southern Alps. And while there is little evidence to suggest that this happens at the moment, the fact that it could is reason enough for a change.

It's the least the Government should do, given that it can't make the sun shine all the time.