Health and safety evaluation demonstrates polar operator's commitment to responsible expedition travel.
WATERBURY,VT, USA – Quark Expeditions has completed a comprehensive operational evaluation process and successfully demonstrated the company’s conformity to the highly respected British Standard BS 8848, which relates to all aspects of the safe and responsible conduct of expeditions and adventurous activities. The evaluation was undertaken by the Young Explorers’ Trust (YET) as an independent third party using qualified assessors.
“The purpose of the assessment is to secure completely independent, knowledgeable, and competent confirmation that Quark Expeditions does, in fact, adhere to the highest health and safety standards in our industry,” stated Hans Lagerweij, president of Quark Expeditions. “What’s more, we are the first and only expedition cruise company with an externally audited and accredited health and safety program.”
The evaluation of BS 8848 by YET was conducted at Quark’s head office over the course of one week in December 2012. A panel of experts from YET audited Quark’s adherence to all of the elements of BS 8848, based on the full range of all component parts of Quark’s operations, including:
- Quark’s passenger pre-booking information
- The competence, experience and training of Quark’s expedition leadership team
- Supervision and staffing ratios for all aspects of Quark’s expeditions
- The standards required of Quark’s third party providers (vessels and ship management, accommodation, transport & activities)
- Quark’s risk assessment, risk management and risk control systems
- Quark’s incident, emergency and contingency planning
- Quark’s insurance and finance arrangements
- Environmental protection and management arrangements for all of Quark’s expeditions.
“YET champions and promotes the use of good practice in overseas adventurous activities,” says Dick Griffiths, evaluations coordinator of The Young Explorers’ Trust. “This was our first assessment for a ship-based expedition company operating in the Polar Regions, and their successful accreditation certainly speaks to Quark’s position as the leader in expeditions to these remote regions. We can sincerely conclude that Quark Expeditions has health and safety at its very core.”
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