This week’s employee safety feature is Panorama Mountain Resort.
Over the past several months, CWSAA has embarked on a collaborative effort with ski areas and go2HR to improve the tools and resources related to employee safety. Panorama, was one of several ski areas that tested and provided input and feedback on these safety materials. Panorama Mountain Resort used these materials with their staff and found them very useful.
“Here at Panorama Mountain Resort, we place the highest importance on the well-being of our people,” says Health & Safety Coordinator Lindsay Bishop. “We continuously empower staff to engage in ways that make safety, health, and wellness important to them.” Panorama’s safety culture thrives off strong beliefs, values, and attitudes focused on prevention of injuries in the workplace. “We all shoulder the responsibility to create a safe work environment and in return a safe and fun experience for our guests.”
Panorama presented the new Safety Talk materials in a safety discussion with both their Ski Patrol team and Ski + Ride instructors. Developing fatigue management strategies are a priority at Panorama and they encourage ‘Take a Break’ with their teams. “This is an ongoing topic, and the Safety Talks provided a great tool to lead our discussion,” says Lindsay Bishop.
To complement the Safety Talk on reducing ski and snowboard injuries, a poster has also been developed. The ‘Before you hit the slopes’ messaging really resonated with the staff, and Panorama’s management is excited to have new tools that fit in perfectly with their priorities.
Panorama has a number of programs and initiatives that support the health, wellness and safety of their staff. We spoke with Sam Reilly, Ski & Ride Manager, as well as Ski Patroller Lydia Dahlgren about some of the activities they do with their teams.
“Morning Session is the kickstart to our busy day as instructors. It’s our chance to get our mind and body switched on to the demands of our work before greeting our guests for the day. It’s also a chance to ensure our equipment is working properly and assess the early morning snow conditions and the impact it may have on our lessons. Our dedicated leadership team is out there almost every day to provide this training opportunity to our instructors and uphold our culture of safety, learning, and fun. When you’re riding up the chair with your colleagues at 8:30am and see the early morning sun beaming off the mountains you realize just how lucky we are to live and work in a place like this and how important it is to stay safe in order to keep doing what we love.” – Sam Reilly, Ski & Ride Manager
“Back home in Sweden I was a gym instructor and have a passion for the importance of taking care of your body. Asking my Ski Patrol manager to do the yoga classes was a chance to be able to try out something new with my team and a fun thing to do. He loved the idea. Neil Carey puts the safety and health of his team above all else. We have a high physical demand with our jobs and fatigue happens quickly. The classes are casual, yoga mats and thermal underwear after work kind of session, but any little bit helps with injury prevention. I put on two sessions a week to accommodate my team’s schedules and the focus of my classes are my aches and pains because if it is troubling me it is perhaps troubling them. Panorama has provided us with a room to do these sessions after work. We love to ski on our days off too, it is important to us all to be able to keep in shape and injury free.” – Lydia Dahlgren, Ski Patrol
Check out other Employee Safety features including:
Wellness Resources at Seymour
Caught S.A.F.E.
The Nutrition factor
There are many great examples at ski areas, who have created effective initiatives to support a safety culture in their workplace. If you’ve got a great story to tell, let us know at marketing@cwsaa.org.