Commission de sécurité des consommateurs

HAVING REGARD TO the Consumer Code and specifically Articles L. 224-1, L. 224-4, R. 224‑4 and R. 224-7 to R. 224-12

  

HAVING REGARD TO petition no. 04-062

  

 

In a letter dated 4 December 2002, Mme S. drew the Commission’s attention to the hazards of practising a leisure activity called ‘summer luge’,

Mme S. based her observations on an accident involving her then 12 year-old son who fell of a luge in the summer of 2002, an accident that “could have disabled him.” As he was riding down a luge track in the Jaillet massif near Megève, he lost control of the luge due to excessive speed, fell, and suffered cranial trauma, a broken rib “five centimetres from his spine,” a wound to one kidney, and multiple burns due to body friction against the concrete. The petitioner called for regulations to “protect our children” as luge is not a sport covered by any sports federation, according to her statement. 

 

 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FACILITIES

  

There are mainly two types of facilities.

Alpine luge is the extension of winter sliding activities. It is practised on ski slopes. Luge riders have to take a chairlift, with their luge hooked onto the back of their chair. Once they arrive at the top, an employee unhooks the luge from the chairlift so that rider can descend an asbestos cement track with several banked curves. The luges are made of plastic and have 4 wheels with rubber brake units. The luge is launched by pulling a side handle or brake lever that releases the brake units and frees the wheels. The brake lever has to be pulled up to slow or stop the luge.

Operations are immediately cancelled in case of rain that makes the asbestos cement track unfit for use.

 

 

 

Go-kart luge is practiced on sloped banks at reconverted industrial sites, for instance.

The loop-track facilities have a cable-tow system that pulls the luges uphill. It is a ‘luge lift’ with a ski tow that pulls the sliding luges up a trough shaped like a collapsed loop between departure and arrival. Once luge riders arrive at the top, they hurtle down the track, a stainless steel chute, which is also unfit for use when it rains. Similar to alpine luges, go-kart luges have four wheels with brakes. Riders have a handle similar to the ‘lever’ to brake their speed. The track has banked curves.

 

 

  

The most common accidents are riders ejected onto or off the track, causing fractures or burns. Overall, summer luge accidents account for less than 1% of everyday life accidents.

 

Safety instructions: recommended helmet, no stopping on the run, and so on, are posted along the track, near the ticket window or printed on the back of the brochure given to riders. On the other hand, the rules setting the intervals between two luges so they do not crash into each another and the requirements for equipment use by children are insufficient.

 

 

Aside from the general safety obligation set forth in Article L. 221-1 of the Consumer Code, summer luges are not subject to any regulation or special standard. However, general scope texts apply under the control of the relevant administrations, texts that are not the same depending on whether they pertain to an alpine or go-kart luge or to the ascent or descent.

 

 

- Whereas summer luge operations cause several accidents every year;

 

- Whereas a control by the public authorities (or under their surveillance) of the loop-track facilities would likely improve user safety;

 

- Whereas, depending on the answers the Ministries have given the Commission, and because of the legal and technical competencies of the said Ministries, some of the facilities are located outside the scope of a preventive control by State services;

 

- Whereas this type of facility has growth potential;

 

- Whereas there is no European standard laying down the applicable safety requirements for facilities using power-driven conveyors or for loop-track facilities;

 

- Whereas strengthened and harmonised instruments to inform and advise users of the rides are needed to ensure that the sport is practiced safely;

 

After having heard petitioner S. in session;

ISSUES THE FOLLOWING RECOMMENDATION:

The Commission recommends that:

  

1. The authorities in charge of standardisation

 

Should promptly initiate the launch of standardisation work on summer luge facility safety, at the European level. For the facilities and luge equipment, the standard should define the safety requirements and test methods in the following areas:

 

* Downhill (and uphill, if appropriate) track configuration and specifically speed limit, prevention of ejection hazards on curves, signage quality and visibility;

* Luge configuration and specifically resistance, stability and good steerability, impact resistance, brake efficiency, ergonomics, and so on; 

* User information and specifically detailed information on instructions for use and use precautions, aptitude requirements such as weight, height or required skills to practice the activity, obligation to wear a helmet and the appropriate clothing for the activity, and so on

 

 

 

● Should regularly have an independent expertise conducted, to assess the safety of the facilities and should draw all the necessary consequences;

● Should improve the safety level of the facilities in the following areas:

* Install an automated regulation system at departure to lower the risk of two luges crashing on the track or at the arrival zone;

* Secure track and specifically curves, with a system preventing or limiting the consequences of a rider’s fall or ejection;

 

● Should strengthen safety instructions and improve public information on the following points:

* Automatically provide riders with a brochure reminding them of safety instructions, at time of ticket purchase;

* Forbid luge use by several people, and specifically use with young children;

* Make it mandatory for every rider to wear a helmet;

* Depending on facility configuration, set a minimum age (and height, if appropriate) requirement for the practice of summer luge;

● Keep a log where every incident and accident occurring during the use of this type of facility is reported and learn from the lessons of the accidents and incidents to improve user safety;

● Focus on safety issues when training full-time or seasonal personnel working at the facilities

● Should scrupulously comply with the warnings and safety instructions provided by operators and make sure that their children also comply.

 

● Should make sure that in practice their child actually has the required skills for this activity.

The full recommendation on this topic is 11 pages long. It includes the petitions, the applicable standards, accidentology in France and abroad, a technical and regulatory study, and the minutes of the hearings.

The full version in French can be found on the CSC website at :