Foreigners’ injuries falling, as part of whole for Swiss winter sports, avalanches biggest killers
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Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Foreign tourists are gradually becoming a smaller group among the total of those injured in winter sports in Switzerland, new statistics show.
BPA, the Swiss safety board, Monday 11 January issued its annual detailed statistics for non-work accidents: at home, doing sports, on the road.
Foreigners accounted for 40 percent of ski accident injuries, 18 percent of snowboard ones and 27 percent of injuries from other winter sports (average: 32 percent).
By comparison, the figures for 2003 were: 47, 29, 28 (average: 40 percent).
Foreigners accounted for 19 of the 39 deaths from winter sports in 2007, the most recent year noted, up from an average of 15 out of 40 deaths a year recorded for the five years from 2003 to 2007.
Knees for skiers, shoulders for snowboarders
Knees remain the most vulnerable body part for ski injuries, while shoulders and the upper arms are for snowboarders.
Age plays a role, however: head injuries are more common among 15- to 19-year-olds than any other group – and this is the most frequently injured part of the body for snowboarders in this age range.
The top cause of death from winter sports from 2003 to 2007 was, on average, avalanches, 45 percent, followed by falling from a height (28 percent) and crashing into an object (10 percent). Deaths from various winter sports: ski touring accounted for 33 percent during the same five-year period, downhill skiing was 25 percent, off-piste skiing 18 percent, while off-piste snowboarding was 14 percent and other sports 10 percent.
Helmet campaign for 2009-2010 aims to cut injuries
Growth in number of people on ski slopes wearing helmets, Switzerland, 2003-2007 9image: BPA 2009)
Overall, some 1,000 people a day are injured on the ski slopes in Switzerland during the season, a figure that is slowly falling. One reason is that more people are wearing helmets, argues the BPA, which began a campaign in December to encourage more people to use them.
BPA ad campaign for more helmets and common sense, 2009-2010, featuring Swiss sky filled with rescue helicopters, French
Links to other sites: Tribune de Geneve, complete BPA 2009 report in English
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News story, GenevaLunch, 11 January 2010.
Filed under: Society
Tags: accidents, ad campaign, avalanches, BPA, crashing into objects, falling from heights, foreigners, helicopters, safety, ski, skies, skiing, snowboard, snowboarding, statistics, Swiss, Swiss safety board, winter sports