Newsletters

Welcome to Brash Talk #5 the newsletter of the Polar Tourism Guides Association (subscribe here). We hope you are either enjoying or are excited about the northern season that is in full swing. Plenty to cover in this issue so please explore it and catch up on all our exciting news. In this newsletter: New […]

Hi all. We hope you have had a great season in the south and some of you will be taking some down time before the busy northern Arctic season kicks off. Welcome to Brash Talk #4 the newsletter of the Polar Tourism Guides Association. The Board It has been a busy time for the PTGA […]

It has been a busy Antarctic season for the PTGA, our affiliates and our systems. Our first ever formal assessments have been run (see interview with Seb Coultard) and a lot of trialing has turned up some good issues we never could have predicted with all the online meetings in the world. This is exactly […]

Understanding causal factors is an important part of being a safety manager and will add depth to your own decision-making. These factors are some of the most common, and documented, social and psychological factors that may affect an individuals evaluation of risks present leading to wrongly accepting increased levels of risk. Understanding these common causal […]

Situational awareness, its related heuristics and frameworks is singularly the most important concept and skill set in managing safety. It is worth an entire training program for companies and expedition staff. Situational awareness as defined by Endsley, 1988 is “the perception of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension […]

I came to expedition leading by way of private expeditions to Antarctica but have worked almost all my adult life in outdoor education, training leadership, guiding and accident investigation. I’ve been fortunate enough over the last 12 years to not only work with some wonderful staff and colleagues, but to work on a variety of […]

I’d like to introduce this piece by thanking my peers. My peers are fellow EL’s, industry professionals. The reason I thank them is because (unknowingly) they assist me with difficult decision-making and safety management actions. They are my ‘judgement review team’. They are the people I respect. Most importantly, they might be the people who […]

The Arctic season is due to start which means there will be plenty of opportunities to ‘land’ on sea-ice. The PTGA will have a range of web resources and articles on many topics directly related to guiding. I would like to share my experiences of managing a sea-ice landing, highlighting some of the most significant […]