A 2015 study in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine examined zipline injuries in the U.S. between 1997 and 2012. According to the study, by 2012, the number of zipline injuries in the U.S. had increased from hundreds to over 3,600. The types of injuries noted to be serious typically were those with broken bones and hospitalization. Specifically, 77 percent of these injuries were due to falls; 13 percent were due to collisions, including those with a tree or other anchored structure. The most frequent types of injuries that occurred as a result of zip lines include broken bones (46 percent), bruises (15.2 percent), strains and sprains (15.1 percent), and concussions or head injuries (7 percent). Eleven percent of patients were admitted to the hospital for their zip line-related injuries.
Children younger than ten years of age accounted for almost half (45 percent) of zip line-related injuries, while youth ages 10 to 19 accounted for an additional 33 percent of injured patients.
Only a few states have any zipline regulation; Utah does not; with this in mind, and if you’re a zipline enthusiast, please take the time to contact your state representative and request inspection and regulation.
Here’s the Zipline and Canopy Tour Responsibility Act, which you might pass along to your representative.
This Act sets out an operator’s responsibility as follows: Every operator shall:
- Construct, install, maintain and operate all ziplines and canopy tours under ACCT challenge course or substantially equivalent standards;
- Ensure that ziplines and canopy tours are inspected at least annually by the division or a special inspector;
- Train employees operating zip lines and canopy tours under national standards associated with their profession;
- Procure and maintain commercial general liability insurance against claims for personal injury, death, and property damage occurring upon, in, or about the zipline or canopy tour, which affords protection to the limit of not less than $1,000,000.00 for injury or death of a single person, to the limit of $2,000,000.00 in the aggregate, and the limit of not less than $50,000.00 for property damage; and
- Maintain records for at least three years from the date of creating the record of a) proof of insurance, b) inspection reports, c) maintenance records and d) participant knowledge of risk and duties.
Notice that this statute refers to the ACCT challenge course standards; ACCT is the Association for Challenge Course Technology. ACCT is the largest American Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards developer for the global challenge course, aerial adventure park, canopy tour, and zipline industry.
In short, ACCT is the gold standard for zipline and canopy tour inspection; be sure to ask your zipline operator if they are ACCT certified or look for the ACCT certification!
Common problems with zip lines that have caused injuries have included too fast lines, causing people to impact the terminus of the line. An equally dangerous situation occurs when the line is too flat, and a user stops before the terminus. Injuries have happened when other users then collide with the stranded user. Equipment failure is cited as a common problem.
So the next time you’re on vacation, and a zipline tour is on your itinerary, it might be worth some closer examination before you zip into a canyon hundreds of feet off the ground. The industry maintains a list of ziplines and challenge courses that meet its voluntary standards, and you can access that by going to http://www.acctinfo.org. This is probably worth checking out if you’re planning such a vacation. So, in conclusion, ziplines can be a lot of fun and a great adventure but be sure to approach them with caution and make sure they are operated with the highest safety standards in mind. If you’ve been injured on a zipline or you know someone who has been injured, please call our zipline accident attorneys at your earliest convenience.
