A number of UIAA member federations and rescue organisations have established systems to collect data about accidents. Their approaches vary, from gathering of individuals stories for publication, through data collection by online reporting forms to general statistics compiled by the rescue services. Some efforts are community-driven, some organised by climbing federations, and some by public services. Altogether a substantial amount of data is being collected and often put to good use for the benefit of climbing safety, but until now there has been no uniform approach. The UIAA, led by a dedicated working group, has brought together data and knowledge from the national systems that exist, and created an international database.
Version 1 of the database is now online providing information on 18 systems from 15 countries. For each reporting system, information detailed in the database includes scope of the platform, its purpose, a summary from the UIAA about the areas of climbing and mountaineering represented as well as links to reporting results. The database will be subject to frequent updates.
“This is something of a soft launch but after over a year of research, analysis and collaboration with owners of the reporting systems we are delighted that the database is now a live tool,” explains Working Group Chair Stein Tronstad (Norwegian Climbing Federation, UIAA Management Board). “Consolidating information on the international reporting systems known to the UIAA is great progress – and part of the federation’s commitment to establishing a Safety Centre of Excellence. However, it is only the first step in the ambitions of the working group.”
These next steps include:
- Having collected reporting forms from 12 accident reporting systems, an analysis with respect to types of data collected, reporting protocols, and data usage is now being conducted.
- Developing a UIAA position paper on accident reporting to argue the need for accident data and address certain concerns regarding liabilities, responsibilities and ethics.
- Work in progress on a comparative analysis of data from USA, Japan, and Norway with respect to factors such as spatial and temporal distribution of accidents, sex and age of the victims, types of accident, and injuries sustained.
Furthermore, the UIAA will publish a series of articles highlighting case studies from the database. This will include a deeper dive into research and stories already provided by bodies such as the Petzl Foundation (Understanding Mountain Sports Accidents) and the American Alpine Club’s highly informative Prescription («Your monthly dose of accidents in North American Climbing»).
Anyone wishing to provide information about a system not currently listed on the UIAA database can do so by contacting the Accidents Working Group.
