DIRECTOR’S PERSPECTIVE
Zero missed work days means uninterrupted opportunities to share the snowsports stoke with students.
RANDY BOVERMAN
HOW MT. HOOD MEADOWS HELPS PREVENT INJURIES AMONG INSTRUCTORS
By Stephanie Prince Alexander, with Jeremy Riss
ust as ski area managers take steps to help keep guests safer, preventing injuries among instructors is a top priority for ski and snowboard school directors and managers. To do this successfully, having data about when, where, and how injuries
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most often to occur – or almost occur – is crucial. Here, Jeremy Riss, vice president of resort and commercial operations at Oregon’s Mt. Hood Meadows, shares specific tactics the resort has implemented to reduce injuries among its teaching staff, which also translates into fewer lost working days. Don’t miss out on these tips your ski and ride school could apply this season.
We’ve invested significant time and effort to reduce injuries to our instructors. Our data shows that since the
2009-10 season, 53 percent of our instructor injuries have been due to falls while skiing or riding, and 33 percent are caused by collisions. (Causes varied for the remaining 14 percent.)
Early in this research, we
realized that in addition to actual injuries, there were many more situations where an injury could have or almost happened.
86 | 32 DEGREES • FALL 2016
In order to get more data we instituted a near-miss reporting system, recording information about situations that could have caused an injury just as we would for an actual injury causing incident. Tis gave a better idea of what was causing situations that had potential for instructor injury.
HOW MT. HOOD ACHIEVED ZERO MISSED WORKING DAYS Focusing our efforts on reducing the falls and collisions that account for the majority of injuries, we found that the overwhelming
majority of falls happen when instructors are skiing/riding on green and blue runs, or helping students up. Te revelation that the majority of the falls came on easier runs, not the steeper terrain, was very interesting as it indicated that the mishaps occurred because instructors were focused on other things besides their own skiing/riding when they fell. We reasoned that more difficult terrain requires the instructor to pay more attention to their own skiing/riding. To address this issue we started a program we call “Blue Run Blues” to remind our instructors and other on- hill staff to pay attention on easier runs. We also educated staff about the high
percentage of falls that happen when instructors attempt to physically assist students, and urged them to be cautious when doing so. We spent time in trainings discussing the best ways to
Calling all ski and ride school directors and resort management! What’s your resort or ski and ride school doing to prevent injuries among instructors and students? You all have valuable information to share and important questions to ask, so join the conversation on The
Community at:
http://tiny.cc/jm7oey. And make plans to attend the Member School Management Seminar at PSIA-AASI’s Fall Conference November 3-6, 2016, where you’ll dive deep into topics with your peers that will help you be better managers and directors… and increase business. Register by October 10, 2016, at
tiny.cc/502pey.
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