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Safety Committee

	Safety Committee members		Safety Articles & Information
	Policies, procedures and forms		Mountaineering Equipment Acronyms Explained
	Accidents in North America submission form

The Safety Committee evaluates current practices and equipment as they might interest or concern Canadian climbers. Formal and informal networking, publication review and active testing are complemented by participation in various conferences and international efforts, including Accidents in North American Mountaineering.

Accidents in North American Mountaineering (ANAM) is an annual compendium of climbing accident reports in the United States and Canada. This annual series started in 1948 and is published by the American Alpine Club (AAC). The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) started contributing material in 1977.

The objective of the ANAM series is to learn from other climbers’ mistakes. Each book contains detailed reports and analysis’s of what went wrong. Over time a pattern in common mistakes, objective hazards, and route specific hazards become apparent. Far from macabre, the information contained within ANAM contains valuable safety lessons for all climbers, whether a beginner or a seasoned veteran.

There was an absence in Canadian content from the ANAM for a few years while the ACC located a new content editor. The ACC is committed to mountain safety and a return to regular Canadian contributions is expected for the 2010 ANAM. In the interm, accident reports are gladly being accepted for any year, which will be included on this website. The success of the ANAM is dependent upon the contributions of climbers, like you, and various park and rescue agencies.

For more information regarding the ANAM, please contact the ANAM Canadian Content Editor, Rob Davidson, at anameditor@alpineclubofcanada.ca

NOTE : There is now an online submission form for Canadian content for the Accidents in North American Mountaineering located on this site, please click here to visit this page, to submit your accident report.

To purchase a copy of ANAM, please visit the ACC On-line store.

Safety Committee Members:

Ernst Bergmann (Committee Chair)
Frank Pianka – Thunder Bay Section
Peter Amann – Jasper/Hinton Section
Selena Swets – Vancouver Island Section
Robert Chisnall – Toronto Section
Hai Pham – Ottawa Section
Felix Camire – Rocky Mountain Section

Policies, procedures and forms

The Alpine Club of Canada has established policies regarding Waiver Administration, Incident Management and Reporting for all ACC activities. The information here is available for Activities Coordinators and all Trip Leaders.

Trip Waivers

Any participant in activities sponsored by The Alpine Club of Canada is required to sign the Release of Liability, Waiver of All Possible Claims, and Assumption of Risk ("the Release"). The importance of this document to The Alpine Club of Canada cannot be over-emphasized. The following form is provided for section trip leaders to print out and require their trip participants to read and sign.

	Waiver Admin Policy - How to manage those waivers.
	ACC Waiver Forms - Blank forms available to download and print.

Incident Reporting

In the event of an accident on any ACC-sponsored activity, it is essential that the ACC National Office be notified.

	Field Accident Report - Recording information to be passed to medical professionals. Trip leaders should always carry this with them on trips.
	Incident Reporting Policy - the ACC policy on incident reporting.
	Incident Report Form (PDF version) - use this to report incidents to National Office. Read the "guidelines" for information about what is required.
	Incident Report Form (Word Format) - use this to report incidents to National Office. Read the "guidelines" for information about what is required.

Alpine Club of Canada avalanche transceiver policy - May 2011

• Participants on all mountaineering, skiing and ice climbing trips, camps and courses of the Alpine Club of Canada in avalanche terrain are required to use a modern avalanche transceiver, as recommended by the Canadian Avalanche Centre. Recommended avalanche transceivers are digital, multi-antenna transceivers; analog and single-antenna transceivers are no longer acceptable. This policy becomes effective with the winter avalanche season 2011/2012, as of November 1, 2011.
• ACC members are advised to take note of the manufacturer’s recommendations for the expected useful service life of avalanche transceivers.
• ACC members are encouraged to upgrade avalanche transceivers to digital, three-antenna models such as the Tracker 2, Ortovox 3+, Barryvox/ Mammut Pulse, Pieps DSP…; digital, two-antenna beacons (Tracker DTS, Ortovox X1…) are still acceptable.
• ACC members are also advised that the usefulness of any transceiver depends on the familiarity of the user with the transceiver. Regular practice throughout the season is strongly recommended.