An Act to Require Ski Area Safety Plans and Reporting
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 0281
Committee: Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business
Sponsors: WILLIAMS
Amends: 32 MRSA §15230

Legislative Document
No. 281
H.P. 179
House of Representatives, January 26, 2023
An Act to Require Ski Area Safety Plans and Reporting
Reference to the Committee on Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and 
Business suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative WILLIAMS of Bar Harbor.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  32 MRSA §15230 is enacted to read:
§15230.  Ski area safety and reporting
1.  Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings.
A.  "Accident" means an incident resulting in traumatic injury to one or more persons 
on a ski area's slopes, trails, tramways or adjoining terrain.
B.  "Anatomical location of injury" means the location on the body where an injury has 
occurred, including the joints, head, neck, arms above and below the elbow, legs above 
and below the knee, back, chest, abdomen, hands and feet.
C.  "Injured person" means a ski area employee or person with a lift ticket or season 
pass involved in an accident resulting in that employee's or person's death or the 
necessity of transport to a medical care facility outside the ski area.
D.  "Number of operational days" means the number of days a ski area is open for 
skiing during a season or other defined period.
E.  "Number of skier days" means the number of times a person purchased a lift ticket 
or used a season pass for one day at a ski area over the course of a season or other 
defined period.
F.  "Safety plan" means a written document that details all the governance, management 
and operational roles, responsibilities and practices of a ski area regarding safety at the 
ski area, including standards, processes, policies, procedures, methods and materials 
consistently employed and subject to compliance monitoring by the ski area operators 
to prevent accidents and reduce the frequency and severity of injuries.
G.  "Season" means a continuous period of months and days extending from the fall 
and winter of one year into the winter and spring of a subsequent year during which a 
ski area is in operation and identified by the year in which it ends.
H.  "Skiing" means the use of a ski area for snowboarding or downhill skiing, for sliding 
downhill or jumping on snow or ice on skis or a snowboard or for similar uses of any 
of the facilities of the ski area, including, but not limited to, ski slopes, trails and 
adjoining terrain.
I.  "Terrain difficulty rating" means the designation, related symbols and criteria used 
by a ski area to communicate the degree of difficulty of the terrain for skiing.
J.  "Trauma score" means a score using a system generally used by emergency medical 
professionals to assess the degree of trauma to an injured person.
2.  Safety plan.  Beginning in 2024, and annually thereafter, a ski area operator shall 
create and maintain a safety plan.  The safety plan must be accessible on the ski area's 
publicly accessible website, if the ski area has a publicly accessible website, and must be 
available in printed form to a skier or other person upon request.
3.  Death and injury reporting.  Beginning in 2024, and annually thereafter, an 
operator of a ski area with a vertical drop of 500 feet or more and at least one aerial tramway 
shall produce a death and injury report for the preceding season.  The report must be easily 
accessible on the ski area's publicly accessible website, if the ski area has a publicly 
accessible website, and must be available in printed form upon request.  The report must 
include:
A.  The number of operational days and the number of skier days for the season;
B.  The total area of skiable terrain of the ski area, the terrain difficulty ratings and the 
percentage of terrain by terrain difficulty rating;
C.  The total number of deaths of injured persons at the ski area or subsequent to 
transport from the ski area;
D.  The total number of deaths of persons injured on tramways, including entry onto 
and exit from a tramway, at the ski area or subsequent to transport from the ski area;
E.  The total number of deaths of persons injured on skis at the ski area or subsequent 
to transport from the ski area;
F.  The total number of deaths of persons injured on snowboards at the ski area or 
subsequent to transport from the ski area;
G.  The total number of injured persons;
H.  The total number of persons injured during transport on a tramway, including entry 
onto and exit from a tramway;
I.  The total number of persons injured on skis; and
J.  The total number of persons injured on snowboards.
4.  Accident database.  Beginning in 2024 for the preceding season and annually 
thereafter, an operator of a ski area with a vertical drop of 500 feet or more and at least one 
aerial tramway shall obtain and document the following data elements for each injured 
person, excluding the name and any other personally identifying information.  These data 
elements must be maintained in an electronic database in a commonly available format and 
made available to any person upon request.  The database must include:
A.  The circumstances of the injured person's presence at the ski area, including 
whether the injured person was a ski area employee, lift ticket purchaser or season pass 
holder or was present at the ski area in some other capacity;
B.  The activity at the time of injury, such as skiing, snowboarding, tramway transport, 
operating equipment, patrolling or assisting an injured person;
C.  The age and gender of each injured person;
D.  The date and time of injury;
E.  The location of the accident at which the injury occurred, by landmark or global 
positioning system coordinates;
F.  The terrain difficulty rating at the accident site;
G.  The surface conditions and visibility at the accident site;
H.  The apparent anatomical location of injury or injuries;
I.  The trauma score or scores at the accident site and immediately prior to transport 
from the ski area;
J.  The final outcome of the injury, including death at the ski area or death subsequent 
to transport from the ski area to a medical facility or other location;
K.  The type of transport from the ski area to an outside medical facility, including air 
ambulance, ground ambulance or personal transport by family or friends; and
L.  A description of the accident, the apparent cause or causes of the accident and the 
mechanism or mechanisms of the injury.
SUMMARY
This bill requires a ski area operator to annually create a safety plan for the ski area and 
make that plan accessible to the public, to annually report on the number of skiing accidents 
resulting in death or in transport to a medical care facility outside the ski area and to 
maintain a publicly accessible accident database that includes data elements relevant to 
accident analysis for injury prevention planning.