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If the account below is accurate the adults involved compromised the Sweet 16 of BSA Safety with tragic results.
We are all vulenerable to making the same mistakes. I study incidents like this in an attempt to understand what happened and to inform my own actions. All of the training in the world won’t prevent every accident and experience is a hard teacher.
By RALPH VARTABEDIAN Los Angeles Times Read full article
LOS ANGELES — The Yosemite Falls Trail leads dramatically to the top of North America’s highest waterfall. Park rangers and veteran hikers know it as strenuous and a potentially dangerous hike in the winter…The 11 boys and four adults started at 8:30 a.m. Just one mile from the trail head, most of the troop were already exhausted and decided to turn back.
The scoutmaster pressed ahead with five boys, including Luis. Three hours later the troop was waist-deep in snow. The boys were cold and their feet soaked. Luis was tired, his seventh-grade hiking partner said later.
The group turned back, and soon spread out along the trail, leaving some boys on their own. They began taking dangerous shortcuts between switchbacks. After stepping off the trail, Luis lost his footing and slid out of control over an edge. He plunged 300 feet to his death.
The account of the accident comes from a park investigation, which took statements from the scoutmaster and the other boys.
In an examination of law enforcement reports, lawsuits and news accounts, the Los Angeles Times identified 32 Scouts and Scout leaders who have died in the last five years in various outdoor activities. Investigations by rangers and sheriffs have documented deaths resulting from heatstroke, falls, lightning, drowning, electrocution and burns, among other causes.
In many cases, adult leaders appear to have miscalculated the abilities of individual boys to handle the risks and difficulties of outdoor activities, and failed to follow Scout rules and recommendations on adult supervision, safety equipment and trip planning.
Andrea Lankford, who was a district ranger in Yosemite in the mid-1990s and has worked at national parks across the country, said many adult Scout leaders “are not that physically fit themselves. They are not that knowledgeable. They are complacent. They are naive about the hazards. They bite off more than they can chew. As rangers, we would be extremely concerned. I have seen it time and time again with a gamut of consequences.”
Paul Moore, the Scouting executive for the Los Angeles Boy Scouts council, said he believed the fatality rate during organized activities for the 1 million boys in Scouting is below the national average for boys going about their daily lives. But Moore also acknowledged that parents have an expectation that the organization knows what it is doing, and that fatal accidents are unacceptable…
What concerns outdoor experts is the experience level of many of those volunteers. Local Scout leaders said the only requirement set by the national office for escorting a day hike, for example, is that volunteers take the youth protection program to prevent sexual abuse, and that they file proper tour permits, health forms and other documents.
“I wonder if these adults are qualified, if they are prepared,” said Matt Sharper, the statewide search and rescue coordinator for the California Emergency Services Management Agency. “If you don’t have the skills, you have a recipe for disaster. Your group is only as strong as your weakest member. You should never let the group separate. You should have a leader at the front and a leader at the back.”
Mike Leum … is the reserve chief for mountain rescue at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, where he preaches outdoor safety to Boy Scout troops. A search and rescue is conducted for lost Scouts at least once a year in the Angeles National Forest, Leum said. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department rescues lost Scouts two or three times each year, officials said…
“Just because you are in Scouting or are a Scout leader doesn’t mean you know what you are doing,” said Leum, a former Boy Scout. “If somebody calls themselves a leader, I hold them to a high standard.”
While the Boy Scout training program is good, it is no substitute for years and decades of experience by adult leaders, said Dean Ross, deputy chief for emergency operations at the National Park Service.
“Training doesn’t develop competency,” Ross said. “I am not saying they are incompetent, but to reach a level of competency requires not only training but experience.”
Guide to Safe Scouting
The policies and guidelines have been established because of the real need to protect members from known hazards that have been identified through 100 years of experience. Limitations on certain activities should not be viewed as stumbling blocks; rather, policies and guidelines are best described as stepping-stones toward safe and enjoyable adventures.
Safety Training
Overview of training available from the BSA.
Health and Safety Training Course Syllabus
Experience has shown that the vast majority of serious injuries and fatalities reported to the National Health and Safety Service occurred in unit-related activities conducted off council properties. This course introduces the concept of the “sandwich principle” with emphasis on the importance of qualified supervision and discipline. The course also features the BSA booklet “Guide to Safe Scouting.”
Scoutmaster Blog Risk Management related postings
Safety is so very important and following the guide lines the BSA has created most certainly would of saved that boys life. I remember back in the day that we were tought to stay on the trail when hiking and was very important to NOT create new trails and wonder in unknown areas…
Well Written, Thanks!
I don’t know of any place to get actual accident reports that would tell us the nature of the fatalities. I wish we had access to them.
Clarke:
I first read this Times article on Fark, and I thought that a few of the otherwise snarky (per usual, it was Fark after all) comments were quite salient. One was that the reporter (take it from a 30 year journalist) played a little rhetorical trick by listing the precise number of total deaths, but then not listing in detail the nature of those deaths. For example, ‘electrocutions’ – doesn’t that include those adult Scouters at the Jamboree who ran a tent pole into a power line? Among the total deaths, as one commenter noted, how many were coronaries among adult Scouters at altitude at Philmont? Apparently there’s one or two every year. Perhaps most important, how many of these deaths were actually Scouts, not Scouters? Moreover, statistically, as one of the quoters said, it is probably safer to be on a Scout trip than sitting at home (especially if you subtract adult Scouter deaths). That’s the bottom line. The rest is perception: Scouting deaths are usually more spectacular in nature: falling off a cliff is more memorable than falling off a roof. Obviously, any death of a young person is a devastating tragedy, and Scouting has a deep responsibility in loco parentis to make the Scouting experience as safe as possible. But to have created an activity for 1 million teenagers that’s safer than everyday life is an amazing achievement.
That said, I think that the Scoutmaster in the story … should be sued by the boy’s family for reckless endangerment. To ‘push on’ in waist-deep snow with an inexperienced 11 year old (who probably weighed 80 pounds – the perfect recipe for hypothermia) is the height of irresponsibility, as is letting the group get strung out on the trail and take short-cuts. That’s wrong in about five different ways, and violates a bunch of Scouting’s own rules. …
Mike Malone
Thanks for your thoughts Tracey.
I’d agree that leaders knowingly putting Scouts in harm’s way is rare. What usually happens is well-meaning leaders do not recognize dangerous situations.
I thin the writer actually did a very good job researching the article. He did include several statements that placed the number of accidents in context with the number of active Scouts.
Dear Clarke,
Perfect timing. Our troop is set to take a holiday break so the boys can spend their school break with family. Once we get back together at the beginning of the year, the outing planning is in full swing. This article will be the opening of the season.
But I feel the need to write to the LA Times, our hometown paper. The accidents were indeed tragic, and many of them might have been prevented. But the article leads the reader to wonder how safe Scouting is. The writer did only part of his research–of the many exciting things that Scouts do, and of the great population of Scouts, it is a testament to the excellent leadership that so many get to return home tired, dirty, but safe. The great majority of Scout leadership would sooner cut off their own arm than to endanger a Scout. These incidents are so rare in the long history of Scouting. Thanks to all of you Scoutmasters, who expose our sons to adventure, and who bring them home safe.
Hi Clarke
Very good posting. This goes back to what I said about “testing” in conferences and Boards of Review. I feel strongly that unit leaders (SMs, ASMs, AND committee members) need to be concerned about what the training level and activity level in their troop is. Especially if they are adding activities that involve greater risk.
We live in Florida and aside from a few snakes, it’s pretty safe here. We don’t have cliffs, snow, mountains, etc. We obviously have some waterfront issues, but the BSA addresses these pretty thoroughly.
I think that’s where part of the problem lies. If you look through the basic skills in Tenderfoot through First Class, what are the main hazards addressed.
1. Swimming.
2. Stoves and fire.
3. Hiking safety. NOT backpacking or wilderness hiking but urban and park hiking.
4. Some first aid. Hypothermia, for example. I think that the principles in the book are ok for temps down to about freezing. I saw somewhere where a council in Alaska requires special “OkPik” training to go camping at all, but kept cancelling the course. Go figure.
And that’s about it. Sure, there is Climb on Safely and Scout Lifeguard, and others, but most leaders and Scouts do not have these special skills. Scouting seems to still be centered on the drive to the campsite, park the trailer and unload the chuck boxes sort of scenerio. Which is fine if that’s all that we do.
For a Fifty Miler on the Appalachian Trail we have trained the Scouts by honing their backpacking, map reading and first aid skills. For a boat trip all of the Scouts attended a day long Coast Guard training and earned their youth “Captains” certificate. And we ask Scouts specific questions about their skills in conferences and boards of review 🙂
This is something that I hope that all Scoutmasters think about when they start adding activities like these to their programs.