ISO 31031:2024

Overview - ISO 31031:2024 (Managing risk for youth and school trips)

ISO 31031:2024 provides guidance for managing risk for youth and school trips, covering domestic and international travel with specific attention to minors. It applies to any organization or provider arranging activities, visits or trips for children and youth outside their usual place of operation - from local day excursions to months‑long overseas programmes. The standard offers good practices for trip planning, risk assessment, risk treatment and emergency response, while excluding family travel and fully virtual events.

Key topics and technical requirements

The standard organizes practical requirements and guidance across the trip lifecycle. Major technical topics include:

• Context and stakeholder analysis: understanding the operating environment, participants and stakeholder roles.
• Risk framework and governance: leadership, policy, roles, responsibilities, objectives and programme planning.
• Risk assessment: systematic risk identification, risk analysis and risk evaluation tailored to youth trips.
• Risk treatment: avoidance, mitigation, liability sharing and insurance considerations (general, special and third‑party).
• Safeguarding and participant protection: policies and procedures for minors and vulnerable participants.
• Supervision and staffing: staffing roles, trip leaders, activity specialists and staffing/supervision ratios (direct, indirect, remote).
• Medical and security planning: medical needs, evacuation/repatriation planning and support services.
• Third‑party management: vetting and oversight of external providers, accommodation, transport and tour operators.
• Contingency, incident and emergency response: creation and testing of emergency response plans.
• Communication, documentation and continuous improvement: operational communications, reporting, trip evaluation and management reviews.

Practical applications and who should use it

ISO 31031 is designed for practitioners responsible for youth travel risk management, including:

• Schools, colleges and universities
• Community and faith‑based youth groups (scouts, youth clubs)
• Children’s homes and residential tutorial centres
• Youth sports and arts clubs
• Adventure centres, tour operators and travel providers
• Non‑profit and commercial organisations arranging internships, expeditions or fieldwork

Use cases include standardizing trip risk assessments, developing safeguarding policies, defining staffing and supervision models, selecting insured providers, and preparing emergency response and evacuation plans.

Related standards

• ISO 31000 (risk management principles and guidelines) - complements ISO 31031 with organisational risk principles
• ISO 31010 (risk assessment techniques) - supports methodologies for risk identification and analysis

Keywords: ISO 31031, managing risk for youth and school trips, trip risk management, school trip safety, safeguarding minors, travel risk assessment, emergency response plan.