SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1985
STP46638S

More Safety in Skiing Through Training the Personnel of the Sport Shops

Source

During the last 15 years the equipment for alpine skiing has been essentially improved through research, standardization, and testing. Unfortunately, the number of typical skiing injuries has not decreased in the same proportion. Statistical analyses carried out by the Deutscher Skiverband e. V. (DSV) (the German Ski Federation) show that, still, every second skier in the Federal Republic of Germany does not take advantage of the opportunity presented to him by the modern functional unit—the ski/binding/brake/boot system—or he may even neglect that chance. Therefore, during the last several years the Technischer Überwachungs-Verein Bayern e. V. (TÜV Bayern) has developed a common training program for the personnel of the sport shops, in cooperation with DSV, the Internationaler Arbeitskreis Sicherheit beim Skilauf e. V. (IAS), and the Bayerisches Landesinstitut für Arbeitsschutz (LAS). Those who have attended the seminars of this program receive a diploma after having passed the examination. The purpose of these seminars is, beyond the specific arrangements of the manufacturers, to give the personnel an all-round expertise in the safety properties of skiing equipment. With this knowledge, the ski shops are supposed to be able to enhance the already available safety properties of the equipment more effectively for the benefit of the skier. In addition, the diploma also informs the skier that competent personnel are working in the ski shops. These efforts toward accurate choice of the equipment, a better mounting of the binding, and flawless, individual binding adjustment seem to be of greater importance than the improvement of the functional unit (the ski/binding/brake/boot system) itself in the reduction of the risk of injury in alpine skiing over the next several years.

Author Information

Nagel, Alfred
Technischer Überwachungs-Verein Bayern e.V., Munich, West Germany
Reuleaux, Michael
Technischer Überwachungs-Verein Bayern e.V., Munich, West Germany
Price: $25.00
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Details
Developed by Committee: F27
Pages: 191–202
DOI: 10.1520/STP46638S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-6832-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-6833-6