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COPE and Climbing Facility Standards – Inspection and Reporting
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COPE and Climbing Facility Standards – Inspection and Reporting

2024 March-April Edition

Tom
  • Tom Pendleton
  • 3/22/2024

COPE/Climbing

COPE and Climbing Facility Standards – Inspection and Reporting
2024 March-April Edition
Tom
  • Tom Pendleton
  • 3/22/2024

As we are getting ready for camp and going through your checklist for opening (NCAP RP-855), one of the items on your list is your annual COPE and climbing facilities ACCT inspection. Let’s review NCAP standard FA-715 and how it applies to your camp and let’s focus on what you need to DO to be ready for your season.

Before you operate your COPE and climbing area(s) they must be inspected by a “qualified person.” This person is defined in the NCAP standard FA-715 and the inspection must take place each year (within 12 months) of operation. As a reminder someone who is trained as an NCS COPE or Climbing director alone is not qualified to do this professional inspection.

Your council will need to schedule this inspection NOW if you have not already done so. A list of professional ACCT vendors is found at https://www.acctinfo.org/vendor-directory. Inspectors book quickly  so its essential you schedule this inspection right away if you have not already done so.

So you get the inspection, now what?

Taking charge: the councils’ responsibility
Your council plays a central role in overseeing the safety of your climbing and COPE courses. When inspections reveal areas of concern, it falls upon the council to address these issues swiftly and effectively, prioritizing the safety of all involved. This includes developing a plan to address any issues from the inspection. The NCAP standard allows you 60 days to develop the plan. You may ask “Can I use this element(s) during that time if it failed the inspection?” – NO once the inspector has labeled an element as a “fail”, your council must discontinue its use until the issues have been resolved. Does that mean my entire COPE course must shut down? – NO, you may continue to use those element(s) which pass inspection unless the use of a failed element would be needed to access the other elements.

Timely responses and thorough documentation
Your inspector must inform you immediately if there is an element(s) of the course that do not pass the inspection. This can be verbal, or in writing. Your role is to ask following the inspection “Were there any issues that you found?” Once you receive the inspection reports, the council will craft written responses outlining plans to rectify identified deficiencies. These responses are documented, providing a clear roadmap for addressing safety concerns and ensuring accountability throughout the process. Your NCAP assessment team will need to see the inspection reports along with the plan of action that addressed any concerns. These can be submitted with your Declaration of Readiness.

Collaborative efforts
Don’t go about this alone. Your council should engage a diverse array of stakeholders, including qualified professionals and experts, to develop comprehensive strategies for addressing inspection findings. Working with the inspector, installer, or manufacturer, along with your council committees will help you develop a plan to take corrective action. This plan must be in writing and available to your NCAP visitation team during the visit.

Implementing solutions
The primary objective of your council plan is to implement timely and effective corrective measures to correct any failures or issues. From structural enhancements to procedural adjustments, this plan should outline actions that are required and who will ensure they have been completed.

Verification and follow-up
Once the corrective actions have taken place a qualified person needs to approve and certify their completion prior to operation. 

Cultivating a safety culture
Beyond mere compliance, council responses to inspection findings play a crucial role in fostering a culture of safety within our organization.

When it comes to outdoor adventures within the BSA, safety always comes first. Thanks to the work of BSA councils and their responses to inspection findings, you can climb, swing, zip, and explore with confidence. Questions about your inspection requirements? Email outdoorprograms@scouting.org. 

See the rest of the articles from the 
2024 March-April edition
See the rest of the articles from the 
2024 March-April edition

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Other COPE/Climbing articles

COPE/Climbing

COPE & Climbing Level II

What is a Level 2 COPE or Climbing Instructor? A Level 2 COPE or Climbing Instructor is an instructor over 21 who has taken a course from a Program Manager or Program Trainer to be able to be the primary instructor of climbing or COPE events, depending on their training on that particular facility. They are assisted by another level 2 instructor or a level 1 instructor over age 18. They are capable of training Level 1 instructors to assist with COPE and Climbing events. A 6:1 ratio is necessary for participants actively participating with rope. Two instructors are required to run any event or program, so they can supervise up to 12 participants. Another instructor must be added for every 6 participants. The Level 2 instructor is proficient in the foundation skills of both COPE and Climbing, still up to date on their level 1 skills, and have taken a course in COPE or Climbing to expand their skills to Level 2 Instructor to those specific programs.

A Level 2 COPE or Climbing Instructor and his assisting level 2s or Level 1s can run a summer camp program if their Council and its Program Manager or Program Trainer wish to train summer camp staff. The Program Manager or Program Trainer is available to advise those who he or she trains and is responsible for vetting and monitoring the quality of that instructor’s operation; such that a Program Manager or Trainer’s training abilities can be reviewed or revoked if sub par training is discovered.

Many COPE and Climbing instructors both take a tower class. Some COPE instructors take a course from a council that may only have low COPE and then maybe a tower and a zip line. Some Climbing instructors may only take people climbing on local rock faces. Others may only operate their council’s indoor climbing wall. There are a variety of combinations, so in most councils (or at some times, collaborations of councils) that have a Program Manager or Program Trainer who teaches Level 2 instructors to run the programs for the facilities or rock in their council (or collaboration of councils) only.

This summer, we may see some councils for temporary or long standing collaborations with councils that have Program Managers or Program Trainers who teach on similar facilities due to the lack of availability of National Camping School courses because of Covid 19.

In this subcommittee chair’s opinion, becoming a COPE or Climbing Director at National Camping School often affords the Director the interaction with more than one out of council NCS Instructors, yielding a perspective possibly not available in a local council program, to his or her benefit, though I have seen many very strong Program Managers and Program Trainers’ training. To this end, councils that exclusively use the Program Manager or Program Trainer Program to train Level 2 COPE or Climbing Instructors have been informed of the new 2020 NCAP standard in SQ 409 that says as Program Manager’s cards expire, all who wish to continue to teach or develop Level 2 training programs within their councils will send someone back to National Camping School to get a COPE or Climbing Director card before they can take the Program Trainer card to train Level 2 Instructors; thus yielding the perspective of a return to National Camping School at least every 5 years to the Program Trainer who will pass his or her insight on to his Instructor candidates. Level 2 Instructors will no longer be allowed to become Program Trainers.

And as always, this sub-committee’s passion is to spread a love of climbing and challenge activities among units and the youth in them. Unit leaders who become Level 2 COPE or Climbing instructors will take youth climbing and out on challenge courses. They will foster growth, team building and challenging experiences for youth in many different types of units. Whether the unit leader or youth got his or her passion to teach or participate in climbing and COPE from attending a summer camp, or the unit members chose to further their instruction through a merit badge or instructor class at summer camp because they came from a troop who climbed, the Level 2 instructor trained by a Program Manager or Program Trainer can be the point where these passions begin to grow and expand. We love to see Units who take the Level 2 Instructor course who take youth climbing who grow up to be leaders who become Instructors to take youth climbing.

Continue to train safely.

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Bray Barnes

Director, Global Security Innovative
Strategies

Bray Barnes is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Silver
Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Learning for Life Distinguished
Service Award. He received the Messengers of Peace Hero award from
the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and he’s a life member of
the 101st Airborne Association and Vietnam Veterans Association. Barnes
serves as a senior fellow for the Global Federation of Competitiveness
Councils, a nonpartisan network of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and
national laboratory directors. He has also served as a senior executive for the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, leading the first-responder program
and has two U.S. presidential appointments

David Alexander

Managing Member Calje

David Alexander is a Baden-Powell Fellow, Summit Bechtel Reserve philanthropist, and recipient of the Silver Buffalo and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the founder of Caljet, one of the largest independent motor fuels terminals in the U.S. He has served the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, Teen Lifeline, and American Heart Association. A triathlete who has completed hundreds of races, Alexander has also mentored the women’s triathlon team at Arizona State University.

Glenn Adams

President, CEO & Managing Director
Stonetex Oil Corp.

Glenn Adams is a recipient of the Silver Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the former president of the National Eagle Scout Association and established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. He has more than 40 years of experience in the oil, gas, and energy fields, including serving as a president, owner, and CEO. Adams has also received multiple service awards from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.