Safety Team Report - ​2015-2016 Season


April 12, 2016

What a crazy disappointing year for snow. It’s nearly impossible to put the variety of events this year into one document, so I am going to share with you the Eastern Division Safety Team has activities and events over the past year in an electronic format. Similar to last year I feel it’s the only way to share with you all the great work that has been accomplished this year.

Highlights from last season:
  1. End of last years season we learned that an Eastern Division mountain, Wachusett was selected as the winner of the Best Guest Safety Program by NSAA. For this season we also learned that an Eastern Division mountain, Wachusett Mountain, had the winning submission for the 2015-2016 NSAA Safety Poster contest! In this last months NSAA journal we also learned that an Eastern Division mountain, Pat's Peak was chosen as the winning safety picture contest for the 2015-2016 season. We are very proud of the work and dedication of all patrollers and staff that made this possible. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!! 
  2. Social media accounts have had very positive growth. Last year we had 168 followers at this time. As of today we have 507 followers!! One of our posts was seen by 303,790 people and was shared 1,700 times!!??  
  3. Sad news to report. "Bear" the golden retriever who has been prominently displayed on our safety materials, lanyards and cards died last week. He unexpectedly was found to have a tumor. His owner is one of our patrollers and we sent our condolences to them.
To start I would like to share with you the names and contact information of regions currently represented at this time. I am hopeful to continue to work with the Regional Directors who at this does not currently have a regional representative.

The current team is as follows:
In looking back over our social media pages, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts this last year it has been an amazing year. For us to share with you the best way I know how we have highlighted some of the events that we conducted in the Division. The team members were fortunate enough to continue to support and promote the safety programs, initiatives and sponsors of the National Ski Patrol Safety Team at the following events:

New England Summit September 15, 16, 17, 2015: Attitash Mountain Resort-September 2015. NSAA regional training program, new safety initiatives and programs.  #nspsafety (no reimbursement for any expenses)

January 2016-Nashoba Safety Booth event with photographs posted to Facebook.

January 30, 2016-Safety Day event at Mohawk Ski area, CT.

January 31, 2016-Wachusett Mountain Safety Booth event, with photographs and videos posted to Facebook. #nspsafety #patagonia #subaru (no reimbursement for any expenses)

February 8, 2016-Bradford Ski Area-Safety Booth event, with photographs posted to Facebook. #nspsafety #patagonia #subaru #helmetsarecool (no reimbursement for any expenses)

March 5, 2016-Ski Butternut-Safety Day with photographs posted on social media pages.(see dropbox link below)

March 15-18, 2016-Easter Division Young Adult Patroller event with Safety Team participation, and hand out of safety materials posted to Facebook, Instagram. #nspsafety #subaru #leadbyexample  #bringonbromley #edyap @natlskipatrol @jiminypeak (reimbursement/budgeted item)For any questions as to what the Safety Team is or what it is that we do please see the attached link to the National Ski Patrol Safety Team website: click here.  This webpage is in the process of being updated presently. More to come with this.

In moving forward the Division team has now begun discussing our team safety initiatives for next year, and they are being tasked to take some of the amazing work they did this year and carry that work and message to other patrols within their Division. I hope that all of you can support your Regional representatives.

Our 2016-2017 safety initiatives/program goals at this time are as follows:
  1. Hosting a one day risk management seminar with MountainGuard and Wells Fargo. Date and location TBA.
  2. Work with Regional Directors who currently do not have a safety team representative in their region. 
  3. Continue with the safety booth events that took place in several regions this year, and work towards hosting and sponsoring more of these events at other resorts, ultimately at least one in each region. Currently we have two patrols who have reached out this year to host safety booth events that have not done so previously.
  4. Continue on work to promote the safety team activities on our social media outlets, including increasing our following and building our partnerships. We currently had 168(2015) last year and as of April 13, 2016 we have 505 followers on Facebook, including Subaru, National Ski Patrol, The HighFives Foundation, and The Wounded Warrior Project. Our followers are from across MA, NH, PA, NY, CT, ME, RI, WI, and Poland!!! 
  5. Continue partnership with Young Adult Patroller program in continued support and promotion the safety programs, initiatives and sponsors of the National Ski Patrol Safety Team working with the future patrollers and leaders of the ski patrol.
  6. Continue with monthly conference calls at the conclusion of the monthly National Safety Team conference call.
  7. Continue to work with team to develop new ideas for safety promotion programs and initiatives within the Eastern Division that can become program pilot programs for new safety initiatives.
  8. WE are looking for thoughts and ideas on updating safety videos for next season. If you have any thoughts or ideas please let me know!!

On June 7, 8, 9, 2016 the NSAA Downhill Bike Summit will be held at Windham Ski Area, NY. Over these three days we will be meeting with NSAA and work with them collectively on mountain bike ski patrol related activities. We have also been in discussion with PolarisEBikes for patrolling activies. More to follow with this so stay tuned!!

I can’t thank all of you enough for the support and efforts of the Eastern Division Safety team. If it were not for your support we would not be able to continue to grow the program to what it has become.

The Safety Team has been overseen by marketing and education at some point or another. I feel  that we are both, 50/50, between marketing and education. The team works to promote our sponsors and hand out safety materials, lanyards, stickers, posters etc, however our message is an educational one focused a strong safety message in effort to change skiers and riders behaviors, with a specific focus on best practices. Our team focus is to promote and educate a variety of safety messages at ski resorts, and position the NSP as the leading authority on skiing and snowboarding safety. The tips went beyond the standards, like wearing a helmet and observing Your Responsibility Code, and got into things like nutrition, hydration, basic back country safety, and terrain park safety.

Please follow us on the Eastern Division Safety Team Facebook page, and follow me on Twitter: @jasontnspsafety or Instagram: JasonTnspsafety. If you have any questions comments or concerns please do not hesitate to ask. If your region is one that does not currently have a regional representative and would like to work with me to help select one I can help in any way.  Please do not hesitate to ask. 

Lastly, a very special THANK YOU to John Shipman. John has been and continues to be an enormous supporter of the Eastern Division Safety team!!   I have known John a long time and am very proud to have been able to work hand in hand with his as the division director and the Safety Team looks forward to working with the new Division Director.

We wish you all a safe and enjoyable summer and we look forward to working with all of you next season!

STAY SAFE!!

Thank you in advance for your time.

Respectfully,
Jason Tamulen
National Ski Patrol Safety Team Eastern Division Representative