Public Safety and Security Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING SKI SAFETY
SUMMARY: This act expands the safety checks and duties that operators of certain passenger tramways (aerial chair lifts) or ski areas must perform.
It requires the operators to (1) ensure that passenger tramways are equipped with restraint devices, which the act defines as a restraining bar that does not yield to a skier's forward pressure, and (2) conspicuously post, at the tramway entrance, instructions on the proper use of the devices and notice that the law requires their use. It requires tramway riders to keep the restraint device closed, except when embarking or disembarking. The passenger tramways to which the act applies are lifts that carry passengers on chairs suspended in the air and attached to a moving cable, chain, or link belt supported by trestles or towers with one or more spans, or similar devices.
The act requires operators to ensure that any lift tower on a ski trail or slope is padded or otherwise protected, instead of conspicuously marking the ones not readily visible. It (1) allows them to pad snowmaking devices on ski trails and slopes, as an alternative to marking their location; (2) specifies that the marker must be a portable fence or similar device; and (3) specifies the areas on ski slopes where snowmaking equipment padding or marking is required. These are designated slopes, trails, or areas the operator approves and opens for skiing and grooms regularly as part of normal maintenance activities.
The act also makes minor and technical changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2014
OLR Tracking: VR: JO: PF: am