Ski Area Operations Risk Management

By Cory Gard

One of the most important classes you can take while participating in the Ski Area Operations program at CMC is Risk Management.  The majority of classes offered are intended to introduce you to the various aspects of ski area operations and are followed with labs and On the Job Training (OJT) hours. Risk management is not something that you want to learn OJT, being proactive is always the best practice.  Most upper level management routinely preaches safety and then pushes productivity and cost reduction.

Risk management involves both the guests and employees. As a manager it may become easy to get caught up in day to day operations and forget that prevention may take a few extra minutes now, but will save a lot of headaches in the long run.  Another reason that it is important for management to be proactive in risk management is workers compensation is very expensive for companies. Employees often don't know what benefits they are entitled so the easier management makes it for them to get taken care of, the quicker the employee can return (and want to return) to work.

Remember, taking a few extra minutes now will save you several hours (and lots of paperwork) later.