This recommendation was adopted at the session on 14 January 2004 on the basis of a report by Anne Gailly.
Assisted by Odile Finkelstein and Patrick Mesnard, Committee technical advisers, in accordance with Article R.224-4 of the Consumption Code.

The Committee recommends that:

The competent authorities and professionals should

1. List all accidents related to the use of ski lifts, whatever their seriousness and circumstances, per type of equipment. These statistics could be disclosed each year.

2. Not put into service new drag lifts with slopes greater than 60%, in accordance with the provisions of the draft European standard, the only European reference document that exists to date.

3. Eliminate any reference to slopes over 60% from the ‘maximum slope’ criterion used in describing new difficult drag lift installations.

4. Ensure that the existing ‘difficult drag lifts’ with slopes over 60% should, by action taken by professionals, or in accordance with the provisions laid down in the specifications drawn up by the public authorities:
- either be dismantled progressively or as they become obsolescent or within a timeframe granted to operators, or
- maintained provided the safety devices making their installations compatible with the safety requirements of the new Community regulations are assessed by the competent authorities.

5. Systematically signal any section of a slope over a given percentage, to be defined, by the standardised sign which is laid down for slopes over 60% in the standard NF X 05-100. In any case any slope over 45% should be signalled.

6. Check during the season that operators comply with their legal obligations regarding the maintenance and the layout of drag lift slopes, particularly in difficult weather conditions (extreme cold, heat, wind).

7. Keep the Committee informed of work by the working group chaired by STRMTG (Service Technique des Remontées Mécaniques et des Transports Guidés—Ski lift Technical Department) on the operation of cableway installations.

8. Define and render applicable a specific regulation for chair lifts, defining in a detailed manner the role and responsibilities of each of the players (supervisory staff, person in charge of children, accompanying person present on the chair lift) when children under 1.25 m get on.

Professionals: operators, ski run safety personnel, ski instructors should

9. Begin thinking about the most appropriate means of providing on-the-spot information to ensure skiers are informed while avoiding any overabundance of information which can have the opposite effect to that sought. The communication topics related to this opinion are:
- At the departure point of ski lifts, legible and visible information updated throughout the day on the weather conditions, visibility, snow conditions (presence of sheets of ice).
- Advice to persons accompanying children of low height showing, in the form of diagrams, ‘correct gestures’ allowing them to ensure children are transported and released from the chair lift in an entirely safe manner.

Users should

10. Bear in mind that skiing is an exacting sport and sufficient physical preparation is necessary. Beginners and children should be accompanied, where applicable, by an instructor.
Seek information on the type of lift available and its difficulty, before skiing down a slope. Beginners should refrain from using a drag lift with a high gradient slope.

For the complete text in English please open the attached file:
The recommendation can also be consulted in full in French on the CSC website: http://www.cscnet.org by using the key word ‘téléski’.

(ECOSA homepage)