Abstract
The objectives of the present study were to assess general perceptions of safety in snow parks (SPs), general knowledge of rules existence, and both active and passive awareness of the International Ski Federation (FIS) rules contained in its Code of Conduct for SPs in order to define target groups for injury prevention-specific education interventions. Data were drawn from 436 freestylers randomly interviewed. The study was conducted during the 2018–2019 winter season in the SP of a major winter resort located in the Spanish Pyrenees. A questionnaire assessing personal data (gender, age, gear used, self-reported skill, and frequency of use), general perceptions on safety, general request for rules, and awareness of existing rules in SPs was developed. Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests were used to compare characteristics between groups. It was revealed, for accident prevention purposes, a concerning general lack of knowledge of existing rules in SPs (63% of participants ignored them). Risk-inducing situations that could result in severe injuries, such as familiarity with the right progression in choosing features and/or stunts or with safety equipment, were largely assessed incorrectly (94% and 70% of participants, respectively). Appropriate intuitive behavior increases with experience: youths and beginners are less able to implement FIS rules than more experienced freestylers.
Highlights
Primary prevention, including the identification of risk factors and the promotion of safety behavior, is the first step towards systematic injury prevention in sports [1]
Past research has reported that a lack of knowledge of safety rules prevails among injured skiers rather than among non-injured [3]
In general terms, according to the low levels of active knowledge of existing rules for the snow parks (SPs) obtained in this study, it seems advisable for resorts to focus on policies designed to raise the users’ awareness of the fact that the better their personal conditions in terms of knowledge of safety rules for performing freestyle activities, the less likely they are to have an accident; this seems to make it necessary to encourage campaigns informing users about the benefits of knowledge of safety rules [10]
Summary
Primary prevention, including the identification of risk factors and the promotion of safety behavior, is the first step towards systematic injury prevention in sports [1]. Injury prevention involves analyzing the magnitude of the problem and identifying behavioral risk factors [2]. Past research has reported that a lack of knowledge of safety rules prevails among injured skiers rather than among non-injured [3]. Regulation of skiing and snowboarding slope activities is essential to have users informed in order to reduce accident and injury rates [6]. Few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of skiing and snowboarding instruction in increasing safer behaviors and reducing the risk of injury, and only one has assessed knowledge of existing rules for regular slopes [6,7,8,9]
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