SEDL / STP / STP860-EB / STP46648S

Attempts to Reduce the Incidence of Skiing Injuries in Sweden

Danielsson, Katarina
Head, National Swedish Board for Consumer Policies, Vällingby,

Eriksson, Ejnar
Head, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm,

Jonsson, Ernst
Associated professor in economics, University of Stockholm, Stockholm,

Lind, Erik
Manager, Section on Sports Equipment, Swedish Association for Development of Outdoor Life, Stockholm,

Lundkvist, Stig
Manager, Swedish Lift Areas Organization, Ostersund,

Pages: 12    Published: Jan 1985

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Abstract

The development of skiing safety work in Sweden is described starting from the 1930s. After the first conference on ski trauma and skiing safety, which took place in Riksgränsen, Sweden, in 1974, an international skiing safety organization was formed. A strong safety campaign was launched in newspapers, on television, and in other media. Different organizations joined the campaign and bad release bindings were banned. Bindings were tested at ski slopes all over Sweden. A cost-benefit analysis was carried out in 1983 to evaluate the economic outcome of the campaign. It showed that thanks to the campaign, apart from the humanitarian gains, the annual average sum saved by the community amounted to almost four million crowns, or a yield of five on each crown invested in the campaign. From the economic point of view, the campaign thus was quite worthwhile.