In an article in the July 2023 issue of SAM (“That’s the Way We Do Things”), I highlighted the ski industry’s high occupational injury rate and the three most effective strategies I’ve observed that impact those numbers: engaged leadership; data-driven safety efforts; and measurable, shareable risk management plans. Here, we’ll get more granular by taking a look at some tangible programs and tactics that mountain resort leaders can implement to reduce occupational injury. 

Investing in line-level leadership, specific considerations for when, where, and how employees should ski and ride, and tips for employee incident review and follow-up are all important pieces of the puzzle.   

SUPERVISOR SKILLSET 

Who has the most impact and influence on employee decision-making and the translation of company strategy into actions? Direct supervisors are the closest leaders to the employees that deliver the product, make the snow, teach the guests, bump the chairs, and patrol the ski area. Therefore, they are the most influential in how those employees make decisions, execute procedures, and manage their own risk.

If supervisors have the most influence on how employees make decisions, what are the critical skillsets they need to be aware of to keep their teams safe? 

Facilitate safety discussions. Visualize a morning line up at ski school. Typically, a supervisor reads through client assignments, daily events, weather, and conditions. How they communicate this information makes a difference in whether employees will absorb it and, most importantly, act on it. Are they telling instructors what needs to happen? Or are they drawing on the collective wisdom of the group to facilitate an engaged discussion? 

Effective supervisors not only communicate rules about closed terrain and mandatory downloads, they also get their teams to think critically about the conditions and hazards of the day. For example, instead of telling staff about the 5TS (Timing, Traffic, Task, Terrain, Tactics, and Surface), an effective supervisor will engage the staff in a conversation about what tactics the instructors think will be important for that day. 

Assess physical and psychological risk. Supervisors need to understand the risks and circumstances that lead to employee accidents and injuries—what can happen in thaw-freeze cycles, ways staff can protect themselves, and the circumstances that lead to collisions, among other topics. More importantly, good supervisors know catching an edge isn’t a random event. Great supervisors understand the greatest risk to staff is the squishy matter between our ears. Supervisors should develop their emotional intelligence, learn how to read people, and know how to motivate their teams. 

A staff member’s mental and emotional readiness is arguably more important than physical readiness with respect to safety. Supervisors need to be able to make that assessment so the right employee gets an appropriate assignment for that day. 

Monkey see, monkey do. Supervisors are incredibly influential. Employees watch and emulate what they do. If the supervisor skis fast, so will employees. If they take shortcuts, staff will too. If the graveyard shift grooming supervisor has a few beers while operating…you get the point. Supervisors should model safe behavior and understand leadership’s expectations. Have leaders made it clear how they want their supervisors to show up? Employee behavior and decision-making is going to be emblematic of not just supervisors’ behavior but the boundaries leaders set—or don’t.      

TO SKI OR NOT TO SKI 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more children ages 1-4 die from drowning than any other cause of death. For children ages 5-14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury or death, after motor vehicle deaths. These statistics have, rightfully, spurred significant water safety and swimming lesson campaigns for kids. Efforts to add—and, in some cases, laws requiring—physical barriers around pools and open water have been effective in preventing kids from drowning; swimming lessons are also shown to reduce the risk. 

As I noted in July, roughly 60 percent of ski area employee injuries are related to slip and falls or falling while skiing or riding. Much like the tactics that have impacted drowning deaths and injuries, we can use similar strategies to reduce the rate of such employee incidents, i.e., limit exposure and/or teach employees how to manage their risk related to these activities.

Hazard elimination is the tactic most likely to prevent injuries from happening, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Hierarchy of Controls. If employees are not exposed to the hazard, they can’t get hurt. It’s simple math: the more time employees spend skiing and riding, the higher the probability someone gets injured. I am not suggesting that employees should never ski or ride on the job—for many operators, allowing employees these activities at work is essential to the value and allure of the job, and integral to the area’s culture. However, creating some guardrails around sliding for work can reduce risk without taking the fun out of it. 

It is worth exploring which employees should be skiing or riding, when, and where. Is skiing or riding an essential function of the job? Clarity and simple expectations are key, so employees understand how and when they can ski and ride.   

If you value employees skiing on the clock, what else can you do to mitigate risk?

Education and expectations. Staff ski and ride tests are a common and valuable tactic to assess ski and ride competency. However, a few laps in November or December with a ski instructor to see if employees can make parallel turns doesn’t really prepare staff for all the hazards a ski area can present.

Skiing and riding require focus and awareness of the circumstances that lead to injuries. So, are you training your employees to focus on the right things? After all, many of us fail to notice the gorilla in the room.

How about that gorilla? The “Invisible Gorilla Experiment” was a study conducted by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. The basic premise is that a study participant watches a video of six people—three in black shirts, three in white—walking around passing two basketballs for 90 seconds. A proctor asks the viewer to count how many times the people in white pass the ball. Midway through the activity, a person in a gorilla costume walks through the group. Half of the video watchers count the passes but miss the gorilla. The point is: whether it’s driving or skiing, we can similarly fail to notice a hazard if we don’t use all our senses—even in the activities we do so often on autopilot.

When not conducting a specific task like teaching or putting up a rope line, there is a tendency for skiing or riding to become a means to an end—it becomes transportation. When staff get complacent, they are more likely to miss the gorillas, even when the gorilla (or hazard) is seemingly obvious.

Actively teaching staff how to ski and ride defensively—and when it’s appropriate to ski and ride on the job in the first place—is critical for employee safety. How? Document, discuss, and enforce appropriate speeds at work. Rules and expectations for skiing on- and off-piste need to be easy to understand. Be clear with employees that unauthorized skiing in closed terrain is a fireable offense. Discuss, teach, and demonstrate how different conditions impact their ability to stop and turn. 

Perhaps most importantly, staff must know and actively use the tenets of NSAA’s Your Responsibility Code. Reviewing the Code is not a one-and-done conversation—it’s an everyday conversation that is taught, observed, demonstrated, and documented.   

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT CULTURE 

If I asked a group of resort leaders if a culture of continuous improvement and learning is important to running an effective operation, how many do you think would say “yes?” If I asked that same group if all employee incidents were followed up with investigations and action plans, and discussed weekly amongst senior leaders, how many would also respond in the affirmative? 

The single most impactful process that organizations can implement to positively affect their safety culture and performance is have an action-oriented and objective incident management process. 

Understand how. “Seek first to understand,” advises author, educator, and businessman Stephen Covey. Cultures of continuous learning foster empathy, understanding, and problem solving. The employee incident process needs to be grounded in understanding how incidents happened, not why. “How” elicits non-judgmental inquiry and curiosity and encourages employees to participate. “Why” triggers blame and is far too often the easy button to push. If you are frequently asking “why?”, think about what type of environment you are creating as a leader. 

Every injury, near miss, and vehicle and property damage should be reviewed, a root cause and contributing factors should be assigned, and actions to be taken to prevent the incident from happening again should be outlined. A strong incident management culture is really just systematic problem solving—a skillset all managers and leaders need. Have a system to support the process. Even a simple spreadsheet can help ensure each step is followed and closed out. If organizations are not systematically tracking these events it’s incredibly difficult to identify a trend, let alone do something about it.   

Finding the time to chase down and follow up on every incident and near miss may sound onerous, but it is time well spent. In fact, a study by the Center for Chemical Process Safety showed embracing process safety is an essential part of doing business that allows a company to measurably increase revenues and reduce costs. The value created can be substantial. The companies that participated in this study reported financial returns from their investment in process safety that included increased productivity, decreased production costs, decreased maintenance costs, and increased capital efficiency. 

In Summary

Keeping staff safe in this industry is a sticky wicket. We can make progress, though, by focusing on the development of line-level leadership; creating systems and clear expectations for staff regarding when, where, and how they ski and ride at work; and developing a culture of continuous improvement through incident management. These efforts pay off in many ways. Those who are disciplined about this process are rewarded with downstream positive impact to their organizations and a problem-solving culture that will pay dividends across the entire business.