2022 FES Agenda
Session 1: Operational Risk Management and Learning from Others
Our daily operations present a spectrum of challenges, necessitating risk management to be the responsibility of every employee at the ski area. How will we change and adapt to ensure we’re not the subject of the next nuclear verdict? Join us to discuss what the industry is facing with the incidents that grab national headlines. From recent mountain bike litigation to zip line incidents, we will examine what happened and what could happen to understand and improve your operational risk management.
Session 2: Your Responsibility Code Gets a Facelift!
Originally introduced in the 1960s as the Skier’s Responsibility Code, and updated in the 1990s to Your Responsibility Code (YRC), the Code is as fundamental to skiing and riding as a lift ticket. Now, the code has received a well-deserved facelift in 2022! The Code, which provides seven of the basic best practices to follow to mitigate risk on the slopes, has grown to 10 basic best practices. The modernization and updates to the code provide a critical opportunity to reengage with our guests on safer skiing and riding. During this session, we will share the exciting and new changes to our “rules of the road” and how we can use this revision as an opportunity to educate and influence behavior on the slopes.
Session 3: Claims and Litigation Review
Join the FES team and your local ASDA attorney as we discuss recent verdicts that change and mold the ski industry and how we operate. Building from session one, this portion of the FES will review wins and losses of a range of cases and, most importantly, discuss the lessons learned from these incidents. In addition, we’ll share examples of challenging property claims, and how those have affected the resort operations, as well as important takeaways you can bring back to your ski area.
Session 4: The Growing Concern for Employee Safety
We work in a unique environment and our work does not fit squarely into the volumes of State and Federal Government code that regulates workplace safety. The standards that govern machine guarding, electrical safety, fall protection, and confined spaces can be complicated to understand and execute. Learn what other resorts are doing to address these issues and concerns. We will also examine workplace fatalities, how the resort navigated those waters, and what we can all do to prevent these situations from occurring again.