SB 564, as amended, Monning. Ski resorts: accident reports.
Existing law regulates certain behavior related to recreational activities and public safety, including, among other things, playgrounds and wooden playground equipment.
This bill would, among other things, require a ski resort, as defined, to submit a monthly summary accident report, as defined, to the State Department of Public Health, as provided. The bill wouldbegin delete authorize the department to request additional safety-related information, as provided, and wouldend delete require the department to post the reports and other information onto its publicly accessible Internet Web site.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(a) Residents and visitors annually make five to six million daily
4visits to California’s mountain skibegin delete resorts,end deletebegin insert resortsend insert and analysis of
5hospital discharge and emergency room visit data reveals over
611,500 ski and snowboard injuries are treated at California hospitals
7each year.
8(b) Ski resorts are not uniformly subject to any federal or state
9safety
statutes, regulations, or reporting requirements and do not
10provide or make accessible accident, death, and injury statistics
11or other safety-related information to government or the public.
12(c) Resort patrons are required to agree to negligence waivers
13with the purchase of a resort lift ticket or season pass.
14(d) The State Department of Public Health has established
15branches and units to provide statewide surveillance and control
16of accidents and injuries.
Article 3 (commencing with Section 115815) is added
18to Chapter 4 of Part 10 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety
19Code, to read:
20
Forbegin delete theend delete purposes of this article, the following
24definitions shall apply:
25(a) “Accidents” means any occurrence resulting in a death or
26an injury or injuries other than those requiring only minimal first
27aid, such as minor abrasions and bruises.
28(b) “Department” means the State Department of Public Health.
29(c) “Ski resort” or “resort” means the operator of a snow sport
30facility.
31(d) “Skier day” means use of a snow sport facility by a
patron
32who skis, snowboards, or engages in any other snow sport during
33a single calendar day of facility operations. The number of skier
34
days are used to track use as well as to normalize other patron
35volume-related statistics over a defined period of facility
36operations.
37(e) “Snow sport facility” means a facility located in California,
38including any facility that operates on federal land in California,
P3 1that is used by skiers, snowboarders, and persons engaged in other
2forms of gravity propelled, nonmotorized, and upright downhill
3sliding snow sports.
4(f) “Summary accident report” or “report” means a report that
5contains all of the following with respect to a snow sport facility:
6(1) The number of accidents reported to a resort during the
7reporting period that occurred on its lifts, slopes, or trails or after
8an intended or unintended egress
from the slope and trail
9boundaries to adjacent terrain.
10(2) The number of accidents reported to a resort during the
11reporting period that resulted in a death, either at the site of the
12accident, during the subsequent emergency transport, or at a
13medical care facility.
14(3) The number of accidents reported to a resort during the
15reporting period that resulted in nonfatal injuries requiring
16transportation by air or ground ambulance to a medical care facility.
17(4) The number of skier days and the number of days of full or
18partial operation during the reporting period.
19(5) A description of
each accident that provides sufficient
20information to explain the severity of the accident.
(a) By the 15th calendar day after the end of each full
22or partial calendar month that a facility is used as a snow sport
23facility, a resort shall submit to the Injury Surveillance and
24Epidemiology Unit of the Safe and Active Communities Branch
25within the department, or other division, branch, or unit, as
26specified by the department, an electronic summary accident report
27in a format acceptable to the department.
28(b) As part of or in addition to the summary accident report, the
29department may request additional safety-related information as
30it deems necessary or desirable and is available to the resort. The
31resort shall respond to all such requests on a timely
basis.
32(c)
end delete
33begin insert(b)end insert Any information relating to a victim’s identity shall be
34redacted by the resortbegin delete prior toend deletebegin insert beforeend insert submitting the report or other
35requested information to the department.
36(d)
end delete
P4 1begin insert(c)end insert The department shall post all reports and information
2received
pursuant to this section onto its publicly accessible
3Internet Web site.
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