Did you know that fractures make up 27% of all outdoor injuries? Outdoor hazards are prevalent, but with a mind toward safety, you can avoid dangerous circumstances. What should one look for to avoid the worst of the hazards?
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to avoid the worst situations in the outdoors. Read on for some outdoor safety tips on how to avoid hazards.
What Are Outdoor Hazards?
To start, what qualifies as an outdoor hazard?
An outdoor hazard is any outdoor threat that can cause injury or damage to a person. These often include dangers such as:
- Wildlife
- Severe weather events such as storms or hurricanes
- Hazardous terrain
- Poisonous plants or unidentifiable flora
Avoiding these hazards is crucial, but there are times when you’ll need to react. Some events can happen regardless of your caution, such as a twisted ankle or animal attacks.
Outdoor Safety Tips
Now that we understand more about outdoor hazards, how can we avoid them? Here are some can’t-miss outdoor safety tips to keep yourself free from harm in the outdoors.
Avoid Wildlife
When you see wildlife out in nature, it’s tempting to approach or interact. Many people will hold a hand out to a small and fluffy animal, such as a raccoon, possum, or fox.
While these animals may seem cute, they’re a severe hazard that can cause pain, illness, injury, and worse. You should avoid these wildlife inhabitants to the best of your ability.
There are also larger animals that you should avoid at all costs. Moose are notoriously territorial and aggressive animals, for example.
Bears, wolves, coyotes, and others are all territorial and dangerous animals. If you see any wildlife during your trip outdoors, observe from a safe distance. You should not approach a wild animal for any reason.
Handle Fire Hazards
Another outdoor hazard that people often overlook is fire hazards. If spending a long time outdoors, someone may start a campfire.
If one is starting a campfire, it’s crucial to take all necessary steps to avoid the fire spreading. Dig a channel around the campfire and surround the kindling with stones. Doing so can stop the area around the campfire from catching fire.
It’s important to keep an eye on the area around you to make sure no errant embers drifted away. Once the fire is no longer necessary, cover the embers with dirt or water.
Finally, keep everything necessary to handle an injury. Keep burn cream or aloe vera nearby in case of a burn. Burns can become infected or inflamed so don’t leave them uncared for!
Predict or React to Severe Weather
Severe weather is a hazard that many of us don’t consider. One may check the weather forecast before going outdoors and then go about their day.
It’s important to do more than check the weather and bundle up. Understand know what sort of weather events you should expect in the day.
Is there severe hail or a strong storm in the forecast? It might be wiser to avoid going outdoors and reschedule the trip.
If the weather is uncertain, bring what’s logical to deal with the weather. You don’t need to carry supplies to react to every freak accident nature can produce. But predicting issues such as flooding, hail, lightning, and intense winds can help deal with possible threats.
It’s also crucial to have what’s necessary for the temperature. If it’s winter, having the needed gear and supplies to handle the cold is vital. In summer or spring, plan around heat exhaustion or heat stroke and recognize the signs.
Plan for Medical Emergencies
Being caught off guard makes any emergency worse. Helping your clients prepare for medical emergencies is a critical step.
For example, if someone mishandles camping equipment, they may end up with a severe gash. A bladed instrument such as a hatchet, knife, or shovel can easily produce such an injury.
Having the necessary supplies to deal with this injury will help the situation. Bandages, ways to stop the bleeding, disinfectants, and other such supplies will remedy the problem.
But if the same situation occurs without such medical supplies, the situation becomes much more dire. What was an inconvenience is suddenly a life-threatening injury.
Make sure your clients know how to plan and react to medical emergencies. It’s better to overprepare than under prepare!
Keep an Eye On Children
In the great outdoors, it’s easy to get turned around or overwhelmed. People that are highly experienced still have difficulty navigating or become disoriented.
One factor that can sometimes become overlooked is children. It’s common for children to become separated in a crowd, a foreign area, or a stressful situation.
Children often don’t have the faculties necessary to handle such a severe situation. While parents can work to improve their children’s ability to handle a situation, it’s best to avoid it outright.
While outdoors, keep a close eye on any children. Have a method of communicating with them such as a cell phone when possible.
For planned outdoor events, a great step is a perimeter to the events. Walls and gates can often stop children from wandering outside of the event.
Have A Liability Insurance Policy
Finally, having a liability insurance policy will help react to any problems. Injury or liability insurance can help people understand what threats they’ll encounter or avoid.
Best of all, insurance can make someone less hesitant to receive care. Emergency medical care is often expensive and can stop an injured person from seeking help.
When insurance steps in to keep the cost low, people are much more likely to get help. Factors like this can help you keep clients safe.
Avoiding Dangerous Circumstances
Outdoor hazards are ever-present and can pose a threat to innocent people enjoying their day. Understanding how to stay safe in the outdoors is crucial to avoiding disaster. It’s also important to comprehend an insurance plan so emergencies are easily handled.
Prime Insurance Company offers insurance for the outdoor recreation industry. To learn more or to get a quote, visit our outdoor recreation page. You can also call or email us at 800-257-5590 and quotes@primeis.com, respectively.
