Interested?
Enquire about our courses!
Why Outward Bound?
External Accreditation
Outward Bound Hong Kong is the first officially accredited outdoor experiential education organisation in Asia.
Outward Bound Hong Kong is the first officially accredited outdoor experiential education organisation in Asia.
In 2011 Outward Bound Hong Kong became the first organization in Asia to be accredited by the Association for Experiential Education, an indication of the fact that all our operations meet recognized industry standard practices. To date we remain the only operation in Asia to have achieved this type of accreditation. The accreditation process required a rigorous evaluation of every element of our organization against specified standards and requires ongoing development in order to retain accreditation. Everything from our educational program content to our catering is evaluated and is recognition that we meet or exceed international industry measures of accepted practice.
The process of verification ensures these systems occur in the field and on our courses, rather than just on paper.
External verification covers over 200 topics such as: maintaining small group sizes with quality supervision, ensuring a clear understanding of experiential learning, ethics, governance, compliance with local laws, continuous improvement systems, consistent standards for medical treatment, lost-person protocols and training, vehicle and vessel inspection and operation standards, police screening of staff, hygiene training and education, equipment standards, leave no trace environmental practices, and screening of any external contractors (such as our externally run dining hall canteen). Our ropes course alone receives an international inspection each year and we have robust Hong Kong inspections for our vessels and facilities annually.
Outward Bound Hong Kong is compliant with British Standard 8848:2014 - Specification for the provision of visits, fieldwork, expeditions, and adventurous activities, outside the United Kingdom. This conformity has been verified through other-party (external) assessment.
BS 8848 enables organisers of adventure travel to put in place a system to assess and manage risks, covering both the venture itself and the capabilities and experience of venture leaders and participants. BS 8848 can also provide assurance to participants that venture providers are following good practice to help reduce the risk of injury or illness.
BS 8848 is the British standard for organising and managing visits, fieldwork, expeditions, and adventurous activities outside the UK.
BS 8848 documents established good practice and specifies the processes needed to manage overseas ventures, from gap year activities to adventure holidays and charity treks.
Providers, organiser and participants need to know the risks involved, that they’ve been planned for, and that has been taken to minimise them, BS 8848 helps to achieve this.
BS 8848 has an underlying principle that the individual or organisation claiming conformity with the standard for a venture is accountable for all elements of that venture. This includes any elements contracted to a third party provider, such as accommodation and travel.
We have utilized a recognized Outdoor Medical Incident Database since 2003 and use this extensively to study incident patterns and trends. This software database contains data-patterns for over 450,000 student days of attendance at OBHK, allowing us to gain in-depth insights and sophisticated analysis of accident patterns and to create excellent incident prevention systems. We have presented on findings from this database at conferences both within Hong Kong and internationally.
It’s very likely that a participant will leave Outward Bound with muddy clothes and a couple of bruises or mosquito bites (indeed this shows an authentic Outward Bound experience), but this software system allows us to focus on strategies for preventing significant injuries, and provides excellent data to enhance the risk assessment and management systems.
