Safety

Risk Assessments, Casualty Evacuation Plans and Safety Audits
Understandably you'll have questions that often one's child is bored by, such as Risk Assessments or basic hygiene!  Please feel free to bypass them and ask us at anytime.  We are an open house when it comes to parents and trust me we've answered many a strange one, so don't be shy!  Alternatively take a look at the Ask Alice section, which answers our most FAQ's.

We have comprehensive Risk Assessments, Casualty Evacuation Plans and Safety Audits (available on request). These cover all the potential hazards and risk reduction measures that what we and our in-country project staff have implemented.

Safety Audits cover things like boilers (if applicable) fire exits, cookers, accommodation, transport (insurance, seat belts, drivers experience + qualifications, service history etc), food, water, First Aid, safety at work and much more.

We also have detailed Casualty Evacuation Plans in place from each location (air, land and sea).

We regularly visit our teams overseas (usually 3-4 recce trips a year), to check our placements and meet the communities, ensure that our safety systems are being implemented by our in-country staff and that our volunteers' are happy, busy and healthy.

Evaluation and Feedback
We also regularly monitor feedback from our volunteers by staying regularly in touch with them, their parents and the hosts during their placement but also by asking the volunteers to complete Evaluation Surveys at the end of their placement and a Leap Feedback Questionnaire on their return home.

Safety
Our combination of professional overseas project leaders and staff, who are responsible for your son or daughter’s health, welfare, safety and day-to-day management ensures our thorough support infrastructure.

Our project leaders are resident 24/7 with the volunteers (unless the volunteer decides to travel away from the project base at weekends) - unlike some other gap year companies where in-country staff are remote and not directly living and looking after the volunteers.

We have a Responsible Travel Policy to ensure that our placements are both challenging and beneficial to both volunteers and the overseas communities we support.

Your son or daughter will be participating in placements, which are regularly checked and monitored (risk assessments etc available on request) by our UK staff and overseas project leaders. We carry out approximately 3-5 trips a year to see our ‘leapers’ in action and to review projects. We limit ourselves to one team placement in each country we operate in.

We prefer this approach as we build up genuine relationships and personal friendships with our host communities. In many cases we have been operating for 5 + years in each destination, sending teams of volunteers 4 times a year ensuring that the communities never feel deserted.

"Thank you for keeping Lily safe and giving her the time of her life". Mrs Hunt

“It was very comforting to know that the leap really did care about how things were going and would do everything in their power to help if ever there was a problem". Mrs Lyndon-Stanford

“We are extremely grateful for everything you did after our daughter’s incident. The midnight telephone call from a distressed child on the other side of the world is the one every parent dreads and it would have been much much worse if your project leaders had not been there to support her and provide much needed security. We really can’t thank you enough". Mrs Cornick

Are we a member of the Year Out Group?
Yes, we are a full member of the Year Out Group, an association of leading Gap Year organisations and the Foreign and Commonwealth’s Know Before You Go Campaign.
 

Key Information Leap Volunteers Need To Leave Their Parents
This advice is intended mainly for travelling after The Leap as whilst on The Leap they are in a safe and structure environment with 24/7 provided by in-country project leaders and UK staff.

Bear in mind that most ‘leapers’ travel with other team members they have made friends with ensuring greater security and other ‘buddies’ to help look out for each other and offer advice, support and assistance.

Whilst we are not obligated to look after volunteers once their placement has ended please be assured that if your son and daughter got into trouble whilst travelling independently post The Leap then we would be happy to help or provide whatever assistance we can.

We have a lot of experience gleaned over the years (since 1994) and have come across just about everything that can right and wrong overseas, we also have excellent local knowledge and contacts and good relationships with insurers, travel agents etc.

•    Copy of passport (back page) and flight ticket (s) (and travel agent number)

•    Whilst on The Leap you have access to us in the office and out of hours through My Leap to all our emergency numbers but they should leave their mobile/cell number (remember most people buy a local SIM card once in-country) and once travelling independently the numbers of people they are staying with (hostels etc) in advance as they become relevant.

•    Details of who they are travelling with independently.

•    If your son or daughter are a British national and travelling or living abroad, or planning to do so ask them use the FCO's LOCATE service. Their embassy and crisis staff can then give you better assistance in an emergency. We strongly recommend that all members of the group register on LOCATE prior to departure.

•    Itinerary and Placement Guidelines for The Leap – and any plans for independent travel beyond The Leap, they should let you know in advance where they plan to go and on what route so if they get lost and fail to make routine contact you can help local people retrace their route to locate them.

•    Agree regular contact times – routine (say weekly – so you don’t cram their style) and an emergency number they can reach you once they have left The Leap.

•    Copies of any visas needed or secured post The Leap.

•    Copy of any inoculations, medical history (allergies etc) or medication taken or carried on flights and blood group.

•    Copy of Travel Insurance covering their entire time overseas (with the emergency SOS assistance, claims, broker and policy number close at hand).

•    Their bank details and account numbers + passwords (internet banking is very useful) including any cards, useful to have set up a third party mandate ensuring you can access their account and transfer money or assist if their cards are stolen/rejected. We cover this in more detail in My Leap and at the Briefing Day.

Communication Whilst Away
Being a small family owned and friendly company we go the extra mile to ensure that everyone has a really personal experience, we are proud of this and have many many parents and leapers that can vouch for this – our word of mouth bookings and the number of siblings we send are testament.

From the moment you get in touch – well before you book a placement we will respond quickly and knowledgeably to all requests and you can come and meet us if you want – we have monthly Briefing Days, our office is open Monday – Friday and we attend well over 70 fairs and talks at schools all over the country and about 15 in the USA (we are lucky as we have marvellous ex Leapers who also attend these for us and act as Ambassadors).

Once your son or daughter does book a placement we will guide them every step of the way with timely advice and we will obviously plan and prepare their placement thoroughly ensuring they and you are all set for their experience overseas.

We see the volunteers off at the airport (in most cases) allowing us to meet parents and answer any last minute concerns whilst also assisting with flight tickets, luggage etc.

We then call parents the day their son or daughter arrives to reassure you that they are safe and we then call as a minimum at the end of week 1, 3 and 8 to let you know how they are getting along and post pictures and updates on our blog more regularly than this when we get updates from our hosts. Obviously if there is a problem or you simply ant to ask us how things are going or to help with anything then we are on hand 24/7.We also get in touch with our volunteers at these stages and the hosts to ensure that things are going according to plan.

We send a Personal Certificate outlining their skills and participation to each volunteer thanking them for their support and write to parents as well. We ask volunteers to complete Evaluation and Feedback Forms in-country and on return home, ensuring we listen and act on any comments and constantly strive to improve our service and placements.

Partnership Information
We work with many reputable organisations listed in the bottom half of our About Us page.