Almost 62,000 Swiss injured on pistes every year

Almost 62,000 Swiss people are injured on the piste every year Keystone-SDA

Nearly 62,000 Swiss people are injured each year while skiing or snowboarding on the slopes. For just over one in five of those injured, the accident is so serious that it results in at least one month's absence from work.

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However, these figures have remained broadly stable over the past few years, according to an analysis carried by the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention and published on Tuesday.

The report sets out the overall accident figures for skiing and snowboarding over the past 30 years.

Nearly 53,000 skiers and 9,000 snowboarders were injured each year. According to the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention, almost three million Swiss people take to the slopes at least occasionally to ski, compared with 450,000 snowboarders.

+ Majority of fatal ski accidents happen off-piste

The data collected shows that the majority of the Swiss population suffer knee injuries. In addition to poor equipment, over-estimation of one’s abilities and excessive speed have an influence on accidents.

Adapted from French by AI/ts

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