8. Who is in Charge?

This is an important point. Each activity & group must have a designated person in charge who will make decisions, monitor participants and be prepared to finish the activity early or not start it if conditions are not suitable.

  • That person does not have to be a leader but may be or may not be the permit holder.
  • If there is a leader present who holds no permit for the activity they can decide that an activity cannot take place because they do not feel it is safe however they cannot overrule the permit holder and make an activity take place. The permit holder is also in charge of the activity.

So it is perfectly possible for an Explorer or a couple of them, to be running a kayaking session for some Cubs, the Cub leader without any experience can use their judgement to say "sorry guys there is too much wind/rain or too cold" which an explorer may not consider because of their lack of world experience.

However, they cannot coerce or pressure the permit holder/s to make an activity take place "because we have arranged it" if the permit holders feel it is unsafe to do so.