I'm not sure if this has been posted before. It is long, but does read well and has a lot of pertinemt information regarding our sport.
RECOMMENDATION ON THE SAFETY OF SHORT SKIS
For those of you who don't want to slog through the whole paper, here are the conclusions;
ISSUES THE FOLLOWING OPINION:
Whereas, according to the data provided by the Association des médecins de montagne, of 7.6 million persons practicing winter sports during the winter season 2003/2004, 7% used short skis, with short ski injuries representing 5.5% of the 150 000 injuries from one winter sports season;
Whereas, according to the statistics from the SNOSM for the same season, the rescue services were called out to the slopes and off-piste areas to rescue more than 4 300 persons using other types of equipment than alpine skis and snowboards, a large majority of which, of a total of 55 000 call-outs, used short skis;
Whereas the information given above is subject to caution in view of the incompleteness of the official statistics both on the actual number of persons practicing winter sports and on the respective proportion of different winter sports equipment noted in the accident reports;
Whereas, according to the information acquired from the Association des médecins de montagne and on-site from rescue services, ski instructors, ski hire agencies and hospital services, it is obvious that the proportion of beginners injured when using short skis is greater than for persons using alpine skis and snowboards;
Whereas, according to the Association des médecins de montagne, the risk of accidents with short skis is lower than with alpine skis or snowboards, the information acquired from orthopedic surgeons and traumatologists nevertheless shows that the use of short skis is characterized by the frequency of serious or very serious fractures of the lower limbs (plurifragmentary spiroid fractures) that can be attributed to the fact that short skis are not fitted with release bindings, so that the feet remain “trapped” in the event of a fall;
Whereas one of the main short ski manufacturers for children has informed the Committee that he intends to stop selling this type of product;
Whereas no standard prohibits the fitting of skis less than 1 m long with release bindings and therefore standard NF ISO 8364 of December 1999 that sets out the requirements concerning the strength of alpine ski bindings, in particular for skis of between 750 mm and 1000 m, should be amended to take account of the specificities of short skis;
Whereas, according to the specialists, classic alpine ski bindings are not perfectly adapted to the type of falls that occur when using short skis;
Whereas the CSC cannot but strongly encourage short ski manufacturers to design and fit systems that are better adapted to safety requirements and notably, given the present state of the art, release bindings adapted to the morphology and practice of short skis;
Whereas the recommendation that the use of short skis is unsuitable for persons under 1.50 m in height, and particularly children, should be printed indelibly on the products in order to more easily inform both hire agencies and consumers;
Whereas those using short skis (7%), in particular beginners, cannot learn or perfect short ski techniques (shorts skis fitted with release bindings) due to the lack of collective courses in most ski schools;
Whereas around 50% of ski equipment hire agencies in major cities or in ski resorts do not give adequate, relevant information in particular to beginners on the particularities and the risks of using short skis;
Whereas French standard NF X 50-007 relative to the hiring of winter sports equipment does not include requirements relative to short skis and therefore an effort must be made to promote this among ski hire agencies.
RECOMMENDATION ON THE SAFETY OF SHORT SKIS
For those of you who don't want to slog through the whole paper, here are the conclusions;
ISSUES THE FOLLOWING OPINION:
Whereas, according to the data provided by the Association des médecins de montagne, of 7.6 million persons practicing winter sports during the winter season 2003/2004, 7% used short skis, with short ski injuries representing 5.5% of the 150 000 injuries from one winter sports season;
Whereas, according to the statistics from the SNOSM for the same season, the rescue services were called out to the slopes and off-piste areas to rescue more than 4 300 persons using other types of equipment than alpine skis and snowboards, a large majority of which, of a total of 55 000 call-outs, used short skis;
Whereas the information given above is subject to caution in view of the incompleteness of the official statistics both on the actual number of persons practicing winter sports and on the respective proportion of different winter sports equipment noted in the accident reports;
Whereas, according to the information acquired from the Association des médecins de montagne and on-site from rescue services, ski instructors, ski hire agencies and hospital services, it is obvious that the proportion of beginners injured when using short skis is greater than for persons using alpine skis and snowboards;
Whereas, according to the Association des médecins de montagne, the risk of accidents with short skis is lower than with alpine skis or snowboards, the information acquired from orthopedic surgeons and traumatologists nevertheless shows that the use of short skis is characterized by the frequency of serious or very serious fractures of the lower limbs (plurifragmentary spiroid fractures) that can be attributed to the fact that short skis are not fitted with release bindings, so that the feet remain “trapped” in the event of a fall;
Whereas one of the main short ski manufacturers for children has informed the Committee that he intends to stop selling this type of product;
Whereas no standard prohibits the fitting of skis less than 1 m long with release bindings and therefore standard NF ISO 8364 of December 1999 that sets out the requirements concerning the strength of alpine ski bindings, in particular for skis of between 750 mm and 1000 m, should be amended to take account of the specificities of short skis;
Whereas, according to the specialists, classic alpine ski bindings are not perfectly adapted to the type of falls that occur when using short skis;
Whereas the CSC cannot but strongly encourage short ski manufacturers to design and fit systems that are better adapted to safety requirements and notably, given the present state of the art, release bindings adapted to the morphology and practice of short skis;
Whereas the recommendation that the use of short skis is unsuitable for persons under 1.50 m in height, and particularly children, should be printed indelibly on the products in order to more easily inform both hire agencies and consumers;
Whereas those using short skis (7%), in particular beginners, cannot learn or perfect short ski techniques (shorts skis fitted with release bindings) due to the lack of collective courses in most ski schools;
Whereas around 50% of ski equipment hire agencies in major cities or in ski resorts do not give adequate, relevant information in particular to beginners on the particularities and the risks of using short skis;
Whereas French standard NF X 50-007 relative to the hiring of winter sports equipment does not include requirements relative to short skis and therefore an effort must be made to promote this among ski hire agencies.
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