Question 1

What is NCEA AS 91504 about?

Accepted Answer

You need to pick an outdoor activity and thoroughly examine the safety issues that could happen during it. Then you figure out what factors cause those issues (like weather, people's experience, equipment quality) and come up with practical plans to keep participants safe. This is about being proactive—thinking ahead about what could go wrong and preventing it before it happens.

Question 2

What do students need to do for AS 91504?

Accepted Answer

1. Select a specific outdoor activity and identify the actual safety management issues that could occur 2. Examine the factors that influence or cause those safety issues (environment, people, equipment, policies, legislation) 3. Devise concrete safety management strategies—practical plans and systems that will prevent or manage those risks 4. For Merit: Explore how different factors connect and influence each other, and consider the wider impacts of the issues and solutions 5. For Excellence: Evaluate which safety issues matter most, and question whether current safety practices in outdoor activities are actually effective or make assumptions worth challenging

Question 3

What's the difference between Achieved, Merit, and Excellence for AS 91504?

Accepted Answer

Achieved: You identify real safety issues for an outdoor activity, explain what causes them, and propose sensible safety management strategies to address them. Merit: You dig deeper into how the different factors causing safety issues connect to each other, and examine the bigger implications—what impact do these issues and your strategies actually have? Excellence: You critically evaluate which safety issues are most important, challenge whether current safety practices really work or are based on unexamined assumptions, and show comprehensive understanding of the safety landscape.

Question 4

What mistakes do students typically make in AS 91504?

Accepted Answer

1. Not being specific enough—picking a vague 'outdoor activity' instead of choosing something concrete (e.g., a particular school field trip, rock climbing site, or tramping route) that allows you to identify real, detailed safety issues 2. Listing safety issues without connecting them to the actual factors or causes—just saying 'bad weather is dangerous' without examining what weather conditions specifically matter for your activity 3. Proposing generic or overly obvious strategies that don't actually address the specific issues you've identified, or forgetting to think about how your strategies would actually work in practice

Outdoor safety management

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