Management and Operations graph including assessment, risk management, operations, and training |
The following items related to training and evaluation all averaged below the level of "partially implemented:" "Staff credentials include documentation of training for including participants with disabilities - technical/hard skills (Question 14)," "Staff credentials include documentation of training for participants with disabilities - soft/facilitation skills (Q15)," "Evaluation criteria exists that identifies safe operations procedures regarding participants with disabilities (Q16)," and "Ongoing staff training occurs that addresses the needs of participants with disabilities (Q17)." These low averages in training and evaluation are cause for concern. Even when a challenge course is designed to accommodate participants with disabilities, it is critical that the staff have sufficient training to keep participants safe while continually improving program quality based on evaluation data.
It is interesting to note the incongruence of having limited training, yet still expressing confidence in the ability to determine disability-related risk on the challenge course (Q11). Perhaps this is an area that was specifically covered in the training that was received, or it may reflect a lack of awareness on the managers' part of how their operations might actually be performing in the area. As we will see in the next section, service providers may not be prepared to accommodate the unique risks associated with participants with disabilities.