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that lift attendants’ use of cell phones dropped, and that to some of Powder’s lifts. “It was amazing the number of
courtesy and guest engagement improved. This is similar in times guests actually apologized to us for exaggerating their
other contexts when employees know they are under surveil- claims from injuries from lifts, after we showed them the
lance. At one large resort, they use fleet tracking devices on footage,” Schroetel emphasized about his experience at Bear
their snowmobiles, which resulted in less horseplay and mis- Creek. “It happened like four or five times a season.”
use of snowmobiles (especially during nighttime operations),
and increased compliance with resort policies.
If a program is implemented, areas should inform ISN’T VIDEO FOOTAGE A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD?
employees about surveillance as part of the pre-season
orientation, and the information should also be placed in Yes, surveillance video footage could expose mistakes and er-
an employee handbook (which employees should sign and rors by ski area employees, in the same way it can expose the
acknowledge) stating that the footage could be used for disci- misjudgments or errors of guests loading or unloading lifts.
plinary purposes or to monitor work performance. Likewise, This is likewise true for any use of surveillance, in bars or
ski areas should adopt a policy as to those few members of hotel lobbies. There will always be some risk of exposing an
senior staff who can access the video cameras and recordings, employee’s mistake. But even going through a legal discovery
and establish guidelines if, and how, such footage could be process (e.g., depositions), it’s still costly with legal defense
copied or released. fees. If surveillance footage does show some exposure for ski
Given its prevalence in society, people are increasingly area negligence, a resort could resolve that claim early, with-
comfortable with surveillance. “Our lifties actually em- out going through a formal legal complaint and incurring the
braced the cameras at lift terminals,” said Mark Schroetel, costs (and time) of discovery. For those few areas using sur-
the former general manager at Pennsylvania’s Bear Creek veillance at lifts, most indicate that video surveillance rarely
ski area, one of the first ski areas to use surveillance at lifts. exposes employee negligence.
“Our lift attendants realized that the footage eventually was
backing them up when guests exaggerated or embellished
how a lift incident happened. As a resort, they knew we had HOW LONG SHOULD VIDEO FOOTAGE BE STORED?
their back.”
There is no firm legal requirement for the length of time
to maintain surveillance video footage, but ski areas should
CAN VIDEO SURVEILLANCE PREVENT CLAIMS? always work with their outside counsel to determine a work-
able timeframe that allows access to the footage but does not
In addition to employee training, another strong selling point needlessly consume server storage space. One policy may
for video surveillance at lifts is its effectiveness at thwarting be to set aside video footage only when ski patrol has been
frivolous claims. called to the scene. Typically, many businesses will maintain
These incidents often result in “he said, she said” style surveillance footage for anywhere from 72 hours to a week,
allegations, with the guest’s word about what happened or even a month (depending on the amount of available
challenging the word of other witnesses or ski area employees storage space) before recording over the video footage. It’s a
(e.g., “I asked the attendant to slow the lift”). Such claims, balancing act: Sugar Bowl Resort in California, for example,
if they reach a lawsuit stage, require depositions and other informs guests on its website that it maintains surveillance
discovery to resolve the conflicting allegations—causing ski footage for 72 hours before recording over it. Transparency
areas to incur considerable expense. Video surveillance, how- is a good consideration for informing the public about video
ever, could (and does) effectively prevent many of these po- surveillance on your resort website, and how long the footage
tential claims, saving resorts needless expense, not to mention will be maintained.
employee time and management frustration. The handful of
ski areas adopting lift surveillance consistently emphasize that
video footage usually undermines guests’ allegations, and in- DOES THE VIDEO HAVE TO BE CONSTANTLY MONITORED?
stead confirms that some type of skier error or misjudgment
contributed to the incident. There are no state or federal laws or requirements that
Schroetel, who had remarkable success with video sur- someone has to monitor live video surveillance. Casinos
veillance at Bear Creek before becoming general manager at may do this, but most other businesses simply don’t have the
Powder Mountain, Utah, is now adding surveillance cameras ability or staffing to continuously monitor video surveillance.

CONVENTION 2017 | NSAA JOURNAL | 39