2010 NSAA Fall Education Series

Once again NSAA will be presenting their Fall Education Series seminars at the SANY/PSAA EXPO.  Below are the seminars:

Industry Report Card:  Claims, Injuries, Litigation Update & Trends

            Presented in cooperation with MountainGuard and the Association of Ski Defense Attorneys (ASDA), our popular Industry Report Card returns to provide the most recent updates on current and emerging claims and liability trends at U.S. ski resorts.  We will explore the latest statistics on the type of claims resorts are currently facing, and our local ASDA attorneys will provide an overview on the latest court decisions in your state (both victories and defeats) and how these judicial decisions could impact your resort’s operations.  We’ll review last season’s serious injuries and fatalities, and what trends are emerging from those numbers.  In addition, we will review some of the broader issues affecting the industry as well, including helmets, OSHA, and other state and federal legislation involving ski areas.  By crunching these numbers, we hope to give everyone on the mountain some tools to take proactive steps to impact claims and lawsuits, from both a pre-loss and post-loss perspective.

Best Management Practices for Complete Lift Safety

            Best management practices should not be limited to management – in the end, everyone is a risk manager, especially with lift operations.  In light of some of the incidents involving lifts at ski areas this past season, we will be analyzing lift accidents, including children falling from lifts, operational procedures and the impact of aging lifts on the industry.  We will also review specific resort initiatives aimed at minimizing future lift incidents, and the quantifiable results these resorts are obtaining from their focus on lift safety.  We have put together an engaging slideshow and video specific to lift operations – NSAA’s Sid Roslund and the “Little Shop of Horrors” – designed to emphasize the point that simple, inexpensive steps now can mitigate or prevent far more expensive and tragic incidents down the road.

Slope Vehicles and Non-Ski Activities:  Safety and Risk Perspectives

At first blush, these two  issues  may not seem all that related, but both represent looming – and increasing – challenges for ski area management that cannot be ignored.  From front-line operators to general managers,  the  protocols and best practices for slope vehicles require every on-mountain employee to remain vigilant toward safe and responsible use in order to prevent and minimize what consistently remain some of the industry’s largest claims.  We’ll examine the smartest safety practices aimed at prevention, and evaluate the causes and consequences of recent, high-dollar claims from slope vehicle  use.  At the same time, as ski resorts turn to sources of revenue beyond  downhill  skiing –  tubing (both winter and summer),  alpine coasters, zip lines, canopy tours,  climbing  walls, bungee trampolines, zorbs, to name a few – we get further away from our experience with on-mountain risk management.  Because these activities have become standard recreational opportunities offered by ski  resorts, we will highlight some of the management pitfalls, lessons learned by other resorts already offering  these activities, and measures designed to prevent potential  incidents and claims.

Anatomy of On-Mountain Incidents:  Have You Passed the Buck or Did Everything Go Right?

            In our fourth and final session, we tie it all together by analyzing two on-mountain incidents in detail, to drive home the point that everyone is a risk manager.  We will compare two actual incidents on the mountain – one where resort staff at all levels passed the buck and the other where everything went right – and break them down in detail, issue by issue.  We will start from well before the incidents occurred to look at how management practices (or lack thereof) impacted these two on-mountain accidents, both positively and negatively.  Our critical, in-depth analysis will explore how the investigations were handled or mishandled, how the resorts effectively dealt with the media – or not, and how all mountain personnel can play roles that can help minimize future incidents.  And, most importantly, we will help identify what management practices were most effective in limiting and possibly preventing the consequences  resulting from these incidents.