Local and National Tour Permits Obsolete - Back to the Original Topic

[rkfrance]

Back to the original topic, this is the most current info on the forms.

 

Effective March 1, 2011, what are currently known as local and national tour permits will be superseded by what will be called the tour plan. *The online tour permit system will be suspended. This update is the accumulation of work by a cross-functional team of volunteers and staff including the Health and Safety Support Committee, Council Solutions, Outdoor Program Group, and Risk Management Advisory Panels.

 

 

Here is the definition of the tour plan in the Language of Scouting: "Units complete this form when planning for local, national, or international adventure. The plan helps ensure the unit is properly prepared, that qualified and trained leadership is in place, and that the right equipment is available for the adventure."

 

 

The plan is available for your staff to see and begin training with at this link: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/680-014_fillable.pdf

 

What's different?

 

1) The council is the reviewer of all tour plans; there is no regional review required.

 

2) The tour plan consists of a tour planning worksheet to be completed by the unit/contingent. It is retained by the council and a tour plan is returned to the unit after processing.

 

3) It's on standard 8.5 x 11-inch paper!

 

4) There is a 21-day advance notice requested for units to submit the plan for your review.

 

5) A single point of contact (not on the tour) for council use is included.

 

6) Defined reasons/times when a tour plan must be submitted for council review:

 

a. Trips of 500 miles or more

 

b. Trips outside of council borders not to a council-owned property

 

c. Trips to any national high-adventure base, national Scout jamboree, National Order of the Arrow Conference, or regionally sponsored event

 

d. When conducting the following activities outside of council or district events:

 

Aquatics activities (swimming, boating, floating, scuba, etc.)

 

Climbing and rappelling

 

Orientation flights (process flying plan)

 

Shooting sports

 

Any activities involving motorized vehicles as part of the program (snowmobiles, boating, etc.)

 

e. At a council's request (allows council to add review times based on local needs)

 

7) There is an updated Pledge of Performance.

 

 

What is not changed?

 

1) A council can define "local" tour plan review needs in addition to the above.

 

2) The Scout executive still needs to have in place a policy/procedure for tour plans.

 

3) Requirements for qualified supervision, training, insurance, etc., remain unchanged-for example, CPR and Wilderness First Aid requirements for high-adventure camps.

 

 

Recommended council implementation strategies include:

 

1) Review and update your tour permit policy to a tour plan policy. Using the administrative review checklist points, you should make sure this includes:

 

a. Definition of activities or conditions that require a tour plan submission

 

b. Numbering, log sheet, and filing system for quick retrieval

 

c. Fax policy/procedure

 

d. Systems for handling and maintaining online tour plans*

 

e. Rules that find forms submitted after the fact, forms with only one signature, and incomplete forms defective (notify the submitters)

 

f. Procedure for "after-action" reporting

 

g. Retention of forms until the statute of limitations has expired

 

h. Training is provided on the use of and requirements for tour plans

 

2) Set up your newsletters, council websites, and roundtable helps to communicate the changes.

 

3) Destroy any paper copies of the local or national tour permits you may have in place.

 

4) Hyperlink the tour plan, http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/680-014_fillable.pdf, and the FAQ page, http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/TourPlanFAQ.aspx, on your websites effective March 1 vs. hosting the document so that it can remain evergreen.

 

 

[John-in-KC]

OK.

 

This is not the cited content on the page. Where did the information you posted come from?

 

It's not exactly a lot of time to get set for this. March RTs are just one (for the most part) District/Council operating committee meeting away...

 

We're strawmanning a plan, but the more credible info we have the better off we will be.

[moosetracker]

Sounds official like.. Is this what the Council is getting from National, or is this what your council has sent out to it's normal volunteers..?

 

While some is the exact same as what we saw from the fact web page from the original post, The differences are the date of start up & things that sound like a list of what Council needs to do, sounds more like what national is sending out to Councils about the changes.. So I am just wondering..

 

Also can someone explain the phrase

 

"d. When conducting the following activities outside of council or district events:

" Above the list of things like Aquatics, climbing, shooting sports etc.

 

It makes it sound like again only needed if out of council or it is a district event (like a camporee).. Why is it seperated from needed for activities that are out of council? the item B that states b. Trips outside of council borders not to a council-owned property.. Is it simply to add in the tour plan is needed for a district even where a shooting sport is hosted..? And why is that, before the tour permit was not needed if attending district events (at least in our council) whether shooting sports were included or not.

 

[rkfrance]

This was sent to our council office - official BSA communication from Health and Safety.

 

I was copied on the info since I was the first to inform them of the upcoming changes.

 

 

[Oak Tree]

Units complete this form when planning for local, national, or international adventure. The plan helps ensure the unit is properly prepared, that qualified and trained leadership is in place, and that the right equipment is available for the adventure

 

Note the absence of any insurance rationale given for why units should complete this form. This would be a perfect place to mention it if it were an actual requirement.

 

I'll note that our council never enforced the 14 day rule. I don't expect it's going to start taking 21 days for them to rubber-stamp a tour permit.

 

Any activities involving motorized vehicles as part of the program (snowmobiles, boating, etc.)

I don't know about your unit, but mine does lots of boating activities that are not motorized. That's some odd wording.

 

I don't expect that most councils will all of a sudden reject paper forms.

 

 

[Adam S]

A step backwards... An electronic form is easier to fill out and saves trees... I will grant you the BSA Tour permit was not easy for anything but causing rage but it was a start in the right direction.

 

 

[skeptic]

It looks as if electronic filing IS being recommended. The pdf is fillible and savable. They also are recommending a plan for faxes and so on in the council prep list.

 

Looks as if you would not need to have a plan for in council overnights and so on, as long as they were within the council boundaries. But that might be the type you would file in a shorter time span by hand, while doing the longer one for more adventurous ones.

 

Will have to see how our council reacts. I asked about it today, and they had no idea what I was talking about, or at least did not admit it.

[John-in-KC]

I've sent this to my DD, DC, RT Commish and our District Committee H&S/RM Operating Committee chair.

 

It'd sure be nice if National would account for time to train the operating committee folk and the UCs, so they can train units, before the go live date... we volunteers do have day jobs.

 

Sigh.

[BrotherhoodWWW]

Moose you might read it again it appears to me to say "When conducting the following activities outside of council or district events: " which means that units do not need to submit a plan for these events because the District or Council is hosting and providing supervision and planning for them hence the use of the word outside.

 

So if a Council does not require one for an event or outing sponsored by the district or council and one of the activities listed under 6d then the unit still does not need to fill one out for that event. If a unit wants to do one of those activities on their own then yes one would be required.

 

What seems to be remaining the same is that it is a planning and communication document that should help units to plan safe outings. It should also remind units that certain high risk activities require additional planning or training. To me it only makes sense that National permits are now going to be processed by Council given last years closing of the region offices.

[moosetracker]

Brotherhood, thanks that does make total sense.. I for some reason just didn't see that outside of council or district events meant "if the event is not a council event or a district event" you need to do the planning..

 

Originally I skimmed it and thought that the meaning was you must do a tour planning for these high adventures no matter if in council or not, but then when I re-read that first line and tried to make sense of it, I was totally confused by it.