Act now before tragedy strikes
There’s been a lot of negative publicity recently about safety standards in the backpacking industry. Whether it’s campervan rental companies getting slammed on national television over alleged saftey breaches, or illegal hostels cramming people into overcrowded and potentially hazardous accommodation, it creates the misleading impression of an industry which fails to regulate itself and is prepared to play fast and loose with people’s safety in order to make a quick buck.
Clearly this is unfair. The vast majority of backpacker businesses are professionally run and treat the safety of their customers as paramount. It is also an industry that has worked hard to organise itself at both state and national levels.
But in the 24/7 news world we live in, pereception is everything. Throw in a spate of bashings, missing bushwalkers and accidental deaths – with backpackers at the heart of the story – and Australia is in danger of developing a PR problem among its core audience.
There’s little the industry can do about random acts of violence, but the rest of it is well within its control.
In the case of campervan rental, there is a sense in which this area of the industry is the regulatory equivalent of the wild west. As Adventure Tours Australia’s Greg Cole has pointed out on Thumbrella, bus and coach operators have to make declarations on their equipment that, if proven false, could land them in jail. They can be audited at any time, their vehicles subjected to random police checks, and they must have documented maintenance systems and records of repairs and defects going back five years. The campervan sector has none of this.
So, rather than waiting for the Government to be spurred into action by a fatal tragedy, how about the industry regulates itself with a voluntary code of conduct? The main players could get together to agree certain saftey standards and then all sign up to comply. This could then be used by the companies involved as a marketing tool, leaving those on the outside to explain why they are not a member. It might not have any legal clout, but it would go some way towards demonstrating that the industry is making the safety of its customers a priority.
As for illegal hostels, a lot of work has been done by the state backpacker associations to highlight the issue to those with the power to close them down, but it’s a national problem as likely to rear its head in Queensland as rural Victoria and one that doesn’t seem to go away. Perhaps there’s a role for the Backpacker Tourism Advisory Panel to play in bringing the clear and present danger of another Childers fire to the attention of the Federal Government.
If you want an example of an organisation learning from a near tragedy and taking procative steps to prevent a recurrance, look no further than YHA NSW. After British backpacker Jamie Neale went missing in the Blue Mountains for 12 days earlier this year, it issued guidelines including the need to keep a registry for day walks, not just overnight stays, and to have procedures in place so you know who’s in the hostel and who isn’t. It then shared these with its competitors for the benefit of the industry.
It’s healthy to have competition, but we need to work together to ensure there’s enough business to fight over.
By Martin Lane · December 4th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Comments
2 Mar 10
3:20 pm
The last 10 Years the Whitsunday Charter Boat Industry Association (WCBIA) has worked really hard to improve standards. The first major development, which seems like an eternity ago, was the code of practice… a long drawn out process with plenty of negotiating among members. But it set the frame work for members to adhere to. Today, the WCBIA continues with an agenda to improve quality and standards in our industry. A year ago we implemented the Vessel Rating System (VRS). Basically the more points you can achieve through vessel safety features, amount of space per person per bed, number of crew to guest ratios, number of toilets/showers to guest ratios, crew training and so on, the more points you score towards your Vessel Ratings. The negative to all this is that the WCBIA have to educate, audit and enforce which comes at a cost to all our members. However, if a member for whatever reason fails to make the minimum grade and continues to fail to meet the grade, then you have a problem which must be addressed to maintain integrity. This has happened with the WCBIA and it can be an extremely hard and emotionally demanding exercise.
So what’s my point of this story… I guess I’m trying to say, that as an industry which is maturing, we must help to improve standards from within, be bold, put your bias and competitive jousting aside… come to the table as industry clusters, work together, discuss common problems, work on common problems and help provide solutions… rather than waiting for the authorities to regulate…which will be a harder and more costly pill to swallow.
As a footnote, I must say that the WCBIA has today forged amazing working relationships/partnerships with the authorities and various govt departments. The WCBIA is now almost always part of the solution and this has regularly lead to government grants to assist in worthy projects.
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