Do AAS apply equally to commercial and non-commercially led groups?
Yes. AAS have been carefully developed to describe a safe and responsible practice for group activities. Commercial and non-commercial groups can interpret the AAS as they see fit provided decisions are made carefully (preferably based upon a risk assessment). This is because, if the courts are required to establish duty and standard of care, they are likely to consider the resources available to the organisation and the requirements of the participants as well as the commercial nature of the activity. It is common that a commercial organisation will generally claim to be specialist, enter into a contract to provide services and also have greater resources available to them indicating a fairly high standard of care owed to participants. Community groups on the other hand are often established as a formal group of experienced participants, few promises are made by the organisation and activities are often of fairly low intensity. However in some cases, after consideration of the specifi
