CMC Ski Ops: June 2010

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Another Way to Teach CPR

When I was teaching knots to Scouts I used to use a Black Rat Snake. I made the knot, I just used the snake to explain the basics. Eleven year olds where 100% attentive and watched my hands while holding the snake.

This is a great way to teach CPR.

http://vimeo.com/11673844

If you work in the ski industry you should know CPR.

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Changes from OSHA that will affect the Ski Industry

Working with OSHA is always difficult in our industry because we know the best ways to keep people safe in our situations. However, OSHA regulations sometimes force us to ignore those.

OSHA’s new concern is employers either intentionally or unintentionally encourage employees not to report injuries. In some cases, the medical bills are paid by the employer and not reported. In others the employer through a system of rewards or other ways has created an environment encouraging employees not to report their injuries.

The obvious example is the minor injury and the employer pays for the medical costs out of the company. The programs that will be difficult are those where an incentive program is set up to encourage employees not to get injured at work. The employees take care of their own injuries or just plain do not report their injuries not to lose those incentives, with or without the employer’s knowledge or support.

Either way is a $70,000 fine per occurrence.

See A Conversation With Assistant Secretary for OSHA Dr. David Michaels – What to Do About Safety Incentives?

For more information about OSHA record keeping see Recordkeeping Policies and Procedures Manual or OSHA Recordkeeping Handbook.

The next issue is OSHA is increasing its fine structure. Violating OSHA regulations is going to be more expensive. Violating OSHA regulations two or more times in Five years could be 300% more expensive.
See New campaign launched for harsher OSHA fines, OSHA increases fines for serious violations or OSHA Announces an Increase in Civil Penalties and a Severe Violators Enforcement Program.

Keywords: outdoor law, recreation law, outdoor recreation law, adventure travel law, OSHA, Occupational Health and Safety Administration, Workplace injuries, worker’s compensation,

Aspen Skiing Co. requires helmets for Salaried employees on the mountain

Because we don’t care about hourly employees?

I know this is an attempt to deal with the real, government, political and other issues of skiing and helmets. However, the announcement just seems wrong to me.

500 salaried Aspen Skiing Company employees will be required to wear a helmet while on the mountain. (How many of those administrative assistants, cooks, janitors, etc. are ever on the helmet is another question.)

Look at it this way. An hourly employee has a severe head injury on the mountain. The parents go to Aspen and say, why was my son not wearing a helmet? The answer, no matter what Aspen Skiing Company says, is going to be, because we did not want to spend the money on hourly employees.

Yes Aspen is doing a good thing and trying to appear responsible with this announcement. However, there is no way to win this one. Either you protect all employees equally or none.

See Aspen To Require Helmets For Salaried On-Mountain Employees

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Keywords:

outdoor law, recreation law, outdoor recreation law, adventure travel law, ski area, Aspen Skiing Company, helmets, salaried employees