NSAA Industry Conference — Employee Health Initiative

by | Jan 28, 2017

I attended the annual NSAA winter conference at Mt Snow, VT in January 2017, and thought that others might benefit from the notes that I gathered when attending the Employee Health Initiative session.

Employee Health Initiative

  • Mandatory helmet use. All on snow employees, allow them to purchase their own, or give them a rental one each time they go out on snow. This way you do not have to purchase one as you are making it available.
  • Fit for snow program used at Smugs, for Patrol Ski School and lift operators
  1. Begins preseason
  2. Studies show a high degree of injuries around 11am and between 2-3pm probably due to low blood sugar and dehydration.
  3. Should drink 72 ounces of water daily for proper hydration if working outside.
  4. Provide healthy snacks such as fruits and energy bars
  5. Water bottles handed out at beginning of season to all employees. Good sale item for guests.  Cost $1650. Per 1000 from SHADS.COM with imprint logo of your mountain. shads.com   Go to health and wellness then drinkware.
  1. Good meals with low fat protein, complex carbohydrate and green vegetables. Make price more attractive than unhealthy meal.  Guests may want to purchase at non discounted price. $10 to $14 Employees get 50% off on the healthy meals.
  2. Preseason talk with employees about need for healthy eating and hydration.
  • On employee accident gather more information than actually required by WC Forms. Find out things like:
  1. What they had to eat last and when
  2. How much they have had to drink today
  3. How much sleep they had to sleep the past night
  • Are we providing on snow employees with anti-slip foot devices (Yack tracks. Micros pikes) Parking lot, tubing, Patrol, outside snow removal personnel and other on snow employees.
  • Do ski testing for all on snow employees.
  • AT bots and bindings must be compatible.
  • After a workers Comp accident have supervisor appear before safety committee or Causal review and explain what can be done to prevent the same kind of accident in the future.

Email me if you want to discuss any of these topics in greater detail, by following this link to NH Region Safety Advisor…