SAM Magazine—Macungie, Pa., July 6, 2023—The Pennsylvania Ski Areas Association (PSAA) held its inaugural lift training program at Bear Creek, Pa., June 20-21. The biannual training supports PSAA’s mission to provide practical, hands-on lift training, and is being offered for free to all Pennsylvania ski areas, drawing nearly 100 percent attendance from Pennsylvania ski areas in June.

The brainchild of Joe Marchioni, deputy director at the Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety (BOIS) and Jim Dailey, GM of Blue Mountain, Pa., the program is meant to be a soup-to-nuts, hands-on lift maintenance educational program that incorporates a variety of important topics including operation and maintenance manuals, PPE and its proper use, understanding changes to the B77.1 standard, and how to foster a working relationship with industry peers and local jurisdictions.

Marchioni, who oversees licensing and inspections for all Pennsylvania ski areas, stressed the importance of resort managers to provide lift maintenance personnel with structured training. It’s also a requirement of ANSI B77.1, he noted, and every attending ski area received two free copies of the new, 2022 ANSI B77 standard, courtesy of PSAA.

The new program coincides with PSAA’s recent approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry as a provider of continuing education for certified individuals working in Pennsylvania’s ropeway industry. As such, the class structure for the new training varies from other lift maintenance programs in that every student is required to attend every class that’s offered throughout the year.

This year’s classes include: electric troubleshooting; lift evac and unseated passenger; conveyor work; towers; chair inspections, grips and rebuilds; loading, riding and unloading; electrical boards and prints; electrical maintenance; and general roundtable sessions for B77.1 changes.

The program, scheduled next at Seven Springs, Pa., Sept. 12-13, is also open to employees from resorts outside of Pennsylvania for a small fee. For more information, go to skipa.com.

This report was written by Sam Geise.