The Cornerstone Blog
Providing insights, updates, and guidance to the experiential education & travel industry
Traveling To and From the U.S. in 2025: Tips For Travelers
Travel season is upon us. As individuals and families get ready for vacations, study abroad programs, cultural exchange experiences, and seasonal jobs, confusion about border crossings tends to dampen traveler excitement.
In alignment with Cornerstone Safety Group, our friends at Andrade Canona Immigration Law Firm, share valuable information and tips that will guide travelers navigating cross-border travel during these challenging and uncertain times.
Key Takeaways from the Wilderness Risk Management Conference 2024
While representing Cornerstone Safety Group at the WRMC this year, we were also able to take part in some fascinating discussions with both members and industry leaders on their fresh insights. We like to look at these opportunities for in-person connection as more than just an event for learning about industry trends; it’s a hub where the evolving landscape of risk management intersects with the innovations and challenges of travel.
Here are a few of the themes and insights that resonated with us, along with reflections from the team on what these mean for our work and yours.
Key Insights: What Travel Leaders can Learn from Human and Organizational Performance Best Practices
Recently, Cornerstone Risk Management Advisor, Mike Armstrong, attended a conference which offered a deep dive into the principles of Human and Organizational Performance (HOP). This innovative approach to safety management is gaining traction across industries, from power and manufacturing to aviation and oil and gas. While HOP has primarily been adopted by industries known for their high-risk environments, the lessons learned at the conference have powerful implications for leaders in the tour and travel sectors as well.
Travel Insurance: Best Practices for Travel Companies with TravMark
For travel companies, making available a meaningful travel insurance option so that participants have the appropriate level of travel insurance is crucial—not just for compliance, but for protecting both travelers and indirectly the business. With ongoing global challenges as well as an individual traveler's personal needs, having a robust travel insurance policy in place is more important than ever.
Tips for Preventing and Responding to Sexual Assault on Travel Programs
Sexual assault prevention and response are critical responsibilities for owners of travel and experiential education companies. Unfortunately, we’re seeing trends in which participant to participant cases are increasing across the industry. Ensuring the safety and well-being of travelers is paramount, requiring a proactive approach to both prevention and response. This blog outlines best practices for preventing and responding to sexual assault, emphasizing the importance of human-centered strategies, clear communication, and ethical conduct.
Insights from our 2024 Cornerstone Leadership Retreat
As the sun sets on our first leadership retreat, we find ourselves filled with inspiration, reflection, and a renewed sense of purpose. Over several days in April, CEOs and business leaders from member organizations gathered to delve deep into the challenges and opportunities of our industry. Here are some key takeaways from our time together.
Evolving Duty of Care for Travel & Experiential Education
Duty of Care is not merely a legal obligation; it's a moral imperative that organizations in the travel and experiential education industry must prioritize the well-being, security, and safety of their participants. However, the landscape of duty of care is as dynamic as the industry itself, constantly evolving with societal changes and industry advancements. In this blog, we explore the fluid and ever-changing nature of Duty of Care, emphasizing its practical application for organizations to operate confidently in a rapidly changing environment.
Traveling with Minors: Child Protection, Unaccompanied Minors & Mandatory Reporting
Embarking on a transformative travel program with minors is a rewarding endeavor that contributes to their growth, resilience, and global awareness. While these programs create profound impacts, they also come with unique challenges and responsibilities. At Cornerstone Safety Group, we recognize the importance of addressing the logistical and protective aspects of working with minors in travel and experiential education.
Navigating the Stress Continuum: A Framework for Organizational Wellness
While perseverance and dedication are commendable qualities, it's crucial to recognize the impact of stress on individuals and teams. In this article, we delve into the Stress Continuum model as a valuable tool for assessing and addressing stress within the travel and experiential education industries.
Marketing your “Safe” Travel Organization
You work hard to ensure that your processes for managing risk are thorough and consistent at your organization. In fact, you probably recognize that highlighting the ways you and your team approach risk management is a crucial selling point of your travel programs. Below, we’ve highlighted some best practices for ensuring that your approach to marketing the health and safety of your travel program is appropriate, legal, and effective.
Vendor Vetting: Who, Why, and How
Cornerstone’s Executive Director, Dave Dennis, has been managing vendor relationships and performing vendor safety assessments for over a decade. He recently offered training and resources for members to discuss the following: How is best-in-class vendor vetting performed? How do you manage gaps in aligning expectations, policies, or insurance coverages globally? How do organizations protect themselves from lawsuits (proactively)?
The solution: Thorough and consistent vendor vetting processes.
Building a Crisis Response Team
As an experiential education or travel operator, you’re surely well-versed in incident response. Do you and your organization have a clear plan of action for how you respond to emergent, unstable events?
When a crisis occurs, your organization relies on your response plan, and the individuals responsible for each function, to act accordingly. Prepare today by following these guidelines for developing a Crisis Response Team.
Duty of Care: Human Safety for the Travel & Experiential Education Industry
Cornerstone is founded on the belief that protecting human lives is not intellectual property, but a shared responsibility. We believe that knowing where human safety fits within your organization and having actionable processes to navigate complex situations is paramount to operational success.
Medical Updates: What you should know about the Omicron Variant
Regular updates in our evolving industry are critical to Cornerstone’s mission to provide essential health, safety and risk management services for the travel and experiential education industries. As such, we tapped into the expertise of our Medical Director, Joshua Dubansky, MD, FACEP, to provide our community additional information about the Omicron variant.