BUSINESS
the MountainGuard Insurance program provides in-house
underwriting, loss control services and claim handling. With
this specialized expertise, the program is able to provide
services to MountainGuard’s insureds and simultaneously
work with their carrier. Without these key components, the
carrier’s appetite for this class of business would be far lower
and result in prohibitive pricing. MountainGuard works with
resorts to help manage the risk associated with skiing with
the end goals of preventing losses from occurring and to
work with organizations to create risk awareness with staff
and guests.
A robust and effective safety culture starts at the top
with management and ownership and trickles down to the
frontline employees. Each person should understand what
is at stake and how they can take ownership in the risk
management approach. Safety committee meetings are
common in this industry and a great place to generate useful
ideas to mitigate risk around a resort.
A common myth is that managing risk is expensive. While
there are risk management tools that come at a high cost,
there are several ways in which employees can affect change
without breaking the bank. Incentivizing employees allows
them to cultivate a stronger safety culture and can motivate
them to come up with innovative risk management ideas
that lead to retaining deductibles. For example, reducing or
eliminating snowmobile use during operating hours is a no
cost risk management effort that could save thousands of
deductible dollars if it helps to eliminate future claims.
In addition to employees, guest education is an effective
way to implement risk management across a resort. How
often do guests read through the skier responsibility code
posted at the bottom terminal of lifts? What if each of the
seven tenants were spread out individually on a fence so
guests could process each tenant, one at a time? The National
Ski Areas Association has a plethora of risk management material
on their website that will help educate guests and employees.
From “Kids on Lifts” to the #RideAnotherDay campaign,
choose the programs that fit best with your resort’s safety
programs. Have employees engage with guests during
Safety committee meetings are
common in this industry and a great
place to generate useful ideas to
mitigate risk around a resort.
A great place to promote safety awareness is with children’s programs
KRZYSZTOF NAHLIK/123RF 52 April/May 2019 | snowopsmag.com
/snowopsmag.com
