On 6 January this year, a six-year-old girl fell from a chair lift at Skistar Trysil after she did not get all the way up into the seat during boarding. Later that month, two children aged four and six fell out of the chair lift at Skistar’s alpine resort in Hemsedal. The National Accident Investigation Board has now issued a report after the accidents. Trysil: Girl fell 14 meters In Trysil, a mother and her two children were going to take the ski lift. The girl hung with her elbows on the seat, and was unable to sit down properly. She fell from a height of approximately 14 metres, suffered compression injuries to her back and a bruise on her chin. The National Accident Investigation Board has pointed to several factors that contributed to the accident, including: the height of the chair compared to the girl’s height, the lift operator did not observe that the child did not get all the way up in the chair lift and that the safety buoy was not lowered The Alpine company did not have a good enough overview of dangers for children in chairlifts The Accident Investigation Board believes that Skistar has not assessed the risk of transporting children under 140 centimeters in chairlifts. They recommend Skistar Trysil to improve the safety management relating to children in chairlifts. Hemsedal: Two children fell ten meters In Hemsedal, two children aged four and six fell out of the Lodge Express chairlift in Skistar’s alpine resort in Hemsedal. The accident happened on 23 January, and the children were participants in a ski school run by Skistar Hemsedal. The incident happened when those children did not get on the seat properly. The ski instructor tried to hold the children up and was thus unable to take down the safety bar. At one point, it was not possible to hold the children up any longer and they fell from a height of approximately ten metres. The Norwegian Accident Investigation Board has pointed to several factors that contributed to the accident, including: That the ski instructor had two small children on either side, and did not have the opportunity to provide sufficient help There was a lack of communication between the ski school instructor and the lift driver Not a good enough overview of dangers for children in chair lift The lift drivers did not observe that the children did not get all the way up in the chair lift and that the safety bar was not taken down. Published 12/12/2024, at 10.47 Updated 12.12.2024, at 11.11
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