The SnowSport Safety Foundation (SSF) has sent a survey to gather information on family safety and injury prevention policies and practices to California mountain resorts.
This survey, the "first of its kind," is aimed at preparation for the next snow season. Snow sports are a popular source of family recreation with many resorts.
Unfortunately, with all the enjoyment comes the danger. There are a number of deaths and serious injuries that occur to children and adolescents at California resorts during the snow season every year.
SSF has taken up the matter and is asking resorts to voluntarily complete the survey as an update to and expansion of the 2010 California Mountain Resort Safety Report.
The target is to collect all the information from completed surveys and publish them prior to the 2012/2013 snow season.
This will not only provide comparative information on the resorts, but will help parents in selecting the safest possible resorts for their families.
"Statistically, children and adolescents have twice the injury rate of adults," SSF's founder Dr. Dan Gregorie said. "And many of those serious injuries, such as falls from lifts and collisions with poorly padded lift poles, unmarked snow-making equipment and natural hazards, are preventable or could be substantially reduced in severity."
The survey is designed with "check box" option so that it can be easily completed.
The categories for information include policies and practices in several categories such as impact protection, trail design and maintenance, resort boundaries, terrain parks and more.
The resorts have been asked to return their completed surveys by September 1, 2012.
SSF also plans to maintain a reliable database to track the safety and injury prevention policies and practices across all resorts in California.
"Parents currently have little or no information with which to assess the safety of the California resorts they choose for their families," Gregorie said. "The information from the SSF survey will be valuable to parents, health professionals and schools who share our interest in children's health and safety."
