What could physically hurt somebody?
Terrain, weather, equipment, participant ability, facilitator competence, first aid, rescue, emergency access and environmental hazards remain essential.
Home
/
Knowledge base
/ Safeguarding
Public guidance · South Africa
Safeguarding in outdoor, adventure and experiential learning.
Practical guidance for protecting the whole person—through safer environments, appropriate relationships, clear professional boundaries and systems that help people prevent, recognise, respond to and learn from harm.
Start here
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding is the deliberate creation and maintenance of environments, relationships, systems and practices that reduce the risk of harm and promote safety, dignity, wellbeing, inclusion and appropriate professional conduct.
It includes responding appropriately when something has already happened, but effective safeguarding begins before an incident. It shapes recruitment, screening, training, programme design, supervision, professional boundaries, reporting and organisational learning.
Who this guidance is for
Outdoor and adventure operators, LOTC and ABL providers, camps and venues, outdoor educators, guides, instructors, facilitators, coaches, volunteers, training providers, programme managers, safeguarding leads, schools and organisations commissioning programmes.
Our sector
Why safeguarding matters particularly here
Outdoor, adventure and experiential programmes often build trust quickly. People may travel, stay overnight, face uncertainty, need physical assistance, take part in emotionally intense reflection or depend heavily on a facilitator's judgement.
These characteristics are not inherently unsafe—many are what make experiential learning powerful. They do, however, make power, judgement, relationships and professional boundaries especially important.
- Extended time away from home
- Overnight accommodation and transport
- Remote environments
- Changing and bathroom facilities
- Close physical proximity or spotting
- Fear, uncertainty and vulnerability
- One-to-one conversations
- Strong group dynamics
- Rapid development of trust
- Significant facilitator authority
Related, but different
Physical safety and safeguarding belong together.
A programme can be technically well managed and still provide an unsafe experience. Safeguarding expands—not replaces—the way we think about safety.
What could compromise dignity, wellbeing or trust?
Where might someone feel unsafe, excluded or unable to speak? Where could boundaries become unclear? Who holds power, and would people know how to raise a concern?
Protecting the whole person may include
Challenge without avoidable harm
Safeguarding does not remove adventure, difficulty or discomfort. A participant may feel nervous, frustrated or challenged. The distinction is whether the challenge is purposeful and appropriately supported, or whether people are humiliated, coerced, deliberately excluded or exposed to avoidable harm.
Challenge can stretch a person without stripping them of dignity.
Trust, power and boundaries
Influence must be used responsibly.
A facilitator may control access to an activity, equipment, group decisions, praise, consequences, transport, accommodation or whether somebody feels included. Participants may comply because they trust the facilitator, want approval, fear embarrassment or assume the adult knows what is appropriate.
Power is not inherently negative. Clear professional boundaries help participants understand what to expect and protect practitioners and organisations from uncertainty and blurred roles.
Boundaries should address
- Physical contact, spotting and assistance
- Private or one-to-one conversations
- Transport and sleeping arrangements
- Changing spaces and personal care
- Social media and direct messaging
- Photography and video
- Gifts, favouritism and relationships after programmes
- Emotionally intense disclosures
Organisational practice
A policy alone is not a safeguarding system.
Safeguarding works when responsibility, expected behaviour, recruitment, training, programme design, reporting and learning operate together in everyday practice.
- Leadership and responsibility Identify who owns safeguarding, receives concerns, makes decisions and handles concerns involving senior people.
- Policies and expected behaviour Explain acceptable conduct, professional boundaries, anti-bullying expectations, digital communication and residential practice.
- Safer recruitment Consider identity, references, applicable statutory screening, declarations, competence and safeguarding expectations during induction.
- Training and induction Teach people how to recognise concerns, respond to disclosures, report, preserve information and avoid investigating beyond their role.
- Programme design Plan for age, group composition, supervision, transport, sleeping and changing arrangements, accessibility, physical assistance and contact outside programme time.
- Accessible reporting Provide understandable routes, more than one reporting option where possible, appropriate confidentiality, escalation and conflict-of-interest safeguards.
- Review and learning Learn from incidents, near misses, complaints, participant feedback, staff concerns, changing programmes and changing law.
Screening checks are not interchangeable.
Requirements differ by role and organisation. The National Register for Sex Offenders, National Child Protection Register and ordinary criminal-record checks have different purposes and legal foundations.
When somebody raises a concern
01
02
03
04
Protect, listen, record and report.
A safeguarding concern should not automatically become an amateur investigation by a facilitator or manager. Follow your organisation's procedure and any legal reporting duties that apply.
Protect immediate safety
Take proportionate steps to prevent immediate harm and obtain emergency assistance where needed.
Listen appropriately
Take the concern seriously. Do not promise secrecy or press for information beyond what is necessary.
Record relevant information
Follow the organisation's procedure and keep information appropriately confidential.
Report and escalate
Use the correct internal route and meet any separate statutory reporting obligation.
If somebody is in immediate danger, contact the appropriate emergency service or police.
This introductory page does not replace organisation-specific procedures, specialist advice or statutory reporting requirements.
South African context
Be clear about what kind of requirement you are describing.
“Safeguarding” is used here as an SA AIA good-practice framework. Individual safeguarding practices may also be required by legislation, regulation, a government authority, contract or an adopted SA AIA standard.
These categories should never be presented as though they are the same thing.
- Legal requirement
- An obligation imposed by legislation or regulation.
- Government requirement
- A condition imposed by an appropriate government authority within its jurisdiction.
- SA AIA requirement
- A requirement formally adopted for a specified SA AIA membership, recognition, verification or accreditation process.
- SA AIA guidance
- Recommended good practice that is not represented as a legal or regulatory obligation.
Primary legal and government sources
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
Sections 10, 12 and 28 establish important rights relating to dignity, freedom and security of the person, bodily and psychological integrity, and the protection and best interests of children. These rights are created by law, not by SA AIA guidance.
Read the official Bill of Rights ↗Children's Act 38 of 2005
Section 110 creates mandatory reporting duties for specified categories of people in defined circumstances. SA AIA does not state that every guide, facilitator or outdoor practitioner automatically falls within that list; the person's actual role and circumstances matter.
Read the official Act ↗Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007
Section 54 requires a person with knowledge, reasonable belief or suspicion that a sexual offence has been committed against a legally defined vulnerable person to report it immediately to a police official. An internal report does not replace a statutory report where the law requires one.
Read the official Act ↗National Register for Sex Offenders
Screening obligations may apply to employers and roles covered by the Sexual Offences Act. Organisations should use the prescribed process applicable to them and should not treat different registers or checks as substitutes for one another.
View Department of Justice NRSO information ↗Public-school tours and sporting activities
The Regulations for Safety Measures at Public Schools include requirements relating to school tours, supervision, parental consent, transport, emergencies and water-related safety. These duties apply within the public-school framework and should not automatically be described as identical statutory duties held by an independent provider.
Read the official regulations ↗
A practical cycle
01
02
03
04
Prevent. Recognise. Respond. Learn.
SA AIA proposes this cycle as practical safeguarding guidance, not legislation.
Prevent
Recruit carefully, screen where appropriate, set expectations, train people, supervise well and design programmes intentionally.
Recognise
Equip people to notice abuse, neglect, grooming, bullying, discrimination, boundary violations and unsafe practice.
Respond
Know how to listen, protect immediate safety, record, report, escalate and avoid investigating beyond your role.
Learn
Review incidents, concerns, feedback, complaints, training, emerging risks and organisational practice—and improve the system.