ISO 31031:2024 Travel Risk Management Assessments and Audits for Educational/Youth Organisations

ISO 31031:2024 provides guidance on managing risks youth and school trips. It considers risk management strategies for domestic and international travel, focusing on the safety and well-being of children and young adults. The standard is designed to assist organisations in planning, executing, and evaluating trips with a structured approach to risk assessment, safeguarding, and emergency response.

This assessment is essential for educational institutions (e.g., schools, colleges, and universities), youth organisations (e.g., scouts, sports clubs, faith-based groups), and commercial providers involved in organising trips for children and young people. It is particularly relevant for staff fulfilling the roles of trip organisers, leaders, and institutions responsible for planning, managing, and delivering trips for young people.

Important considerations within ISO 31031 standard include:

A structured risk management approach for youth/educational trips, ensuring trip objectives are balanced with safety and safeguarding measures.
Dynamic risk assessments, safeguarding protocols, and clear roles and responsibilities for staff and participants.
Integration of trip risk management within wider risk management policies.
Guidelines for establishing a trip risk management framework, including stakeholder engagement, policy development, and emergency response planning.

A guide to BS ISO 31031:2024 Travel risk management — Guidance for organisations

Effectively managing risks for an organisation is crucial to success. In the field of travel risk the challenges range from day-to-day events that can impact on performance, through to crises that can threaten life and disrupt entire organisations. Managing risks to young people involved in organised trips, whether national or international, is complex noting inexperience and vulnerability, and many organisations are challenged to balance trip objectives and risks, as well as securing the necessary capabilities and resources needed. 

This new guidance provides a framework developed by international experts to help organisations meet their ‘duty of care’ obligations and deliver proportionate, effective travel risk management for young people. Crucially, GSA Global ensures organisations are supported by a tailored solution that delivers peace of mind to organisers, participants and other stakeholders.

GSA Youth Travel ISO 31031:2024 Maturity Self-Assessment

This rapid self-assessment helps educational institutions, youth organisations, and commercial providers involved in organising trips for young people assess and enhance their travel risk management (TRM) practices for this vulnerable population. It provides a structured approach to evaluating the current state of their TRM programme and guides the development of mature and effective risk management strategies over time. The model typically categorises maturity levels from basic to advanced, outlining specific characteristics, processes and capabilities at each stage.

There are just 28 questions, taking only 10 minutes to complete. You receive an instant report which you can download or have sent to you via email.

GSA Youth Travel ISO 31031:2024 Readiness Assessment

GSA will assess your current policies, practices, and procedures, and assess whether these are in line with the ISO 31031 standard. A trained auditor will analyse the organisations policies and procedures related to Travel Risk Management. The auditor will then provide a report outlining the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses and offer a checklist of actions required to meet the ISO 31031 standard.

‘At the Cavendish School, our girls receive a first-class education augmented by carefully selected experiences outside the classroom, like visits and trips to special places which our pupils will remember for the rest of their lives. Yet, we know that the world is uncertain, and we cannot take safety for granted. This is why we have asked travel risk experts GSA Global to review our travel planning against the new world standard. We are determined at The Cavendish School to ensure that we are world-class in every aspect of our pupils’ education.’

— Taryn Lombard, Head Teacher

GSA Youth Travel ISO 31031:2024 Audit

Augmenting the assessment, and following successful completion of any Action Plan, GSA can benchmark all policies and processes related to travel risk management against the ISO 31031 standard. The experienced GSA travel risk auditor will review travel risk management documentation, interview key personnel and provide an evidenced audit opinion of ISO 31031 adherence supporting the award a GSA Certificate of Accreditation to the ISO 31031 standard. 

“Client Reference”

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How long does the ISO 31031 Readiness Assessment or Audit take an organisation to complete? 

GSA Global reviews available relevant policies and procedure documents etc over the course of a day. We then arrange to meet (in-person or virtually) key stakeholders who lead on youth trips, and staff who undertake visits to establish how the policy and procedure are translated into practice – this usually takes two days. We then prepare the report of our findings which we present back to the organisation sponsor and their team. At all times, we work collaboratively to ensure our engagement minimises disruption in busy organisations. The audit follows a similar path and takes a similar time, depending on whether the Assessment was completed first.

What do you receive from the GSA Youth Travel ISO 31031:2024 Maturity Self-Assessment, Readiness Assessment, and Audit?

The Youth Travel Self-Assessment provides an instant report on how your organisation compares to the good practice in ISO 31031:2024 and benchmarks your organisation against others which have completed the self-assessment. The Readiness Assessment provides a detailed report and Action Plan (as appropriate) detailing where your organisation meets good practice and our recommendations to close any gaps observed in youth travel arrangements. Following a successful Audit, an organisation receives a GSA certificate confirming the successful outcome and denoting adherence ISO 31031:2024. This Certificate is current for 12 months from the date of issue.

Who is involved in the ISO 31031: 2024 Assessment or Audit process from the educational/youth organisation?

Key individuals we speak to include the executive member(s) who have responsibility for the duty of care to staff and youth who are participants in organised youth trips. We also spend time with the operational leader(s) who have delegated authority from the executive to develop and manage policy and its implementation. Where this function is dispersed amongst several managers, we like to see them and understand their role and contribution to youth trip risk management. Then, we see a sample of the staff members and participants, including specialists, who have undertaken trips to help us judge how policy and practice align. We liaise and plan with the organisation to schedule meetings when interviewees are available.

How can you use the Assessment Report in your organisation? 

Independent assessment of youth trip risk management arrangements can help satisfy internal, external audit and regulators’ expectations (for example, the Health & Safety Executive). Well-run, independently verified arrangements may also help attract more favourable insurance premiums. A prominent benefit is to inspire in staff, youth, parents and other stakeholders greater confidence to engage in opportunities for life-changing positive learning experiences outside the classroom.

As an educational establishment or youth organisation what do I need to do?

 If you are confident that your youth trip travel arrangements are of a high order and routinely meeting or exceeding international good practice, you should consider undertaking the GSA Audit and independently certificate your achievement. If you believe that you can demonstrate aspects of good practice but there are likely to be some areas where improvement could be made, then the GSA Assessment would be right for you as you will receive a prioritised Action Plan to help you set goals to meet ISO 31031:2024 over a realistic period. If you are uncertain about the level of maturity of your arrangements, then the GSA Youth Trip ISO 31031:2024 Maturity Self-Assessment is the best place to start – it is free and provides an instant read-out of your organisation’s alignment with the ISO Guidance.