Activities including Zip Lining, Rock Climbing and Canopy Tours will support Safety
Figure 2: Zip Line Operation |
As the popularity of these high angle activity attractions continue to increase in Belize, the Bureau of Standards Technical Committee (TC) for Tourism and Related Services is currently developing standards to help ensure safety. These activities have historically been popular for
tourists that come to Belize. The number of tour operators and
tour guides offering one of the mentioned types of tours or a
combination of these also keeps rising.
This means that more tourists are exposing themselves to
something considered being High Risk in Belize. We have to
ensure their safety is a priority and given also that tourism is
one of the biggest economic sectors for Belize and something
as small as a bad accident or incident may affect the entire
industry. Before waiting for some accident to happen we have
to ensure that proper standards and practices are addressed.
Figure 1: Zip Line Technician |
The TC recommended
for the establishment of a Technical Subcommittee (SC)
to work on standards for high risk activities in Belize
including recreational scuba diving services, water
sports activities, high angle activities, etc. At first the SC
proposed a zip lining standard which was later made to
be a more comprehensive standard to cover similar other
activities as indicated above. The proposed requirements
will include safety requirements based on engineering
and operations of these high angle activity attractions.
The SC is currently undertaking the standard in its initial
development stages and pleased to inform that the
Figure 3: Site Visit for High Risk Activities SC Members |
experts have been engaged in site visits and evaluation
exercises to familiarize with these operations to ensure
that the proposed standards
reflects the latest technical
expertise, helping to foster a
culture of safety.
Anyone interested in this area
is welcome to join BBS and
become involved in the
process.
Contact Information:
BBS Committee: TC-01 on Tourism and Related Services
Technical Contact: Lloyd Orellano, tel +501-822-0446; stds.officer@bbs.gov.bz
SC-01 on High Risk Activities
Technical Contact: Lenny Ayuso, tel +501-227-2420; layuso@travelbelize.org
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