KUNC
A bill before lawmakers this week would require Colorado ski resorts to publicly report injury and fatality statistics, a measure that’s being met with strong resistance from the ski industry and its backers. Proponents say such a law would force resorts to be more accountable for safety problems.
“The bill is a fairly straightforward approach to try and find out where there are problem areas that are causing significant safety concerns,” said Jessie Danielson, D-Jefferson County, one of the bill’s sponsors.
Senate Bill 184, titled “Ski Area Safety Plans and Accident Reporting,” is slated for a hearing on Thursday. Under it, resorts would also be required to publish safety plans that indicate what they are doing to reduce injuries and fatalities.
For years,
Westword has reported on the dearth of information about ski accidents that s publicly available. Like winter resorts across the country, ski areas in Colorado tend to release as few details as possible about injuries and deaths on the slopes, in part because there s no legislation compelling them to do so and the Colorado Snow Safety Act of 1979 largely absolves operators from liability should anyone get hurt or killed.
Now, however, a recently formed organization called Safe Slopes Colorado is making a new push for transparency and bolstering its call is data assembled by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that reveals the impact of injuries in greater specificity than ever before. During the 2018-2019 ski season, for example, ski accidents resulted in more than 8,000 emergency room visits and nearly 1,600 ambulance transports. For an average 120-day season, that breaks down to 66 trips to the ER and thirteen ambulance rides related to skii