To the Editor: With the ski season in Australia drawing to a close for another year, it is a good time to reflect on the injury prevention benefits of wearing helmets when skiing or snowboarding.

Skiing falls can be fatal. Two people have died from head injuries on Australian skifields in recent years: a skier died after colliding with a tree branch on an intermediate run at Mt Buller, Victoria, in 2003; and in 2006, a novice snowboarder died after falls sustained while snowboarding at Thredbo, New South Wales.1 Neither person was wearing a helmet. In Australia in 2002–03, 3.5% of skiing-related hospital admissions and 6.2% of snowboarding-related admissions were due to intracranial injuries.2

During the 2004 and 2005 ski seasons we collected data on the use of helmets in snowboarders presenting to the Mt Buller Medical Centre. Of 494 snowboarders, 17.6% had been wearing helmets, and none had sustained a head injury. Of the nine patients with head injuries, none had been wearing helmets. These figures are similar to those reported in overseas studies, which have shown that wearing a helmet can reduce the snow-sport head injury rate by up to 60%.3,4

The use of helmets for snow sports makes intuitive and biological sense, as it does for cyclists, but, unfortunately, Australia is yet to issue a snow-sport helmet performance standard, as it does for bicycle helmets. Helmet use should be strongly recommended for all snowboarders and skiers. In particular, helmets should be made compulsory for children, who are more susceptible to head injury4 and who are often present at ski resorts in large organised school groups that could readily be made to comply. At present in Australia, helmet use is not compulsory for children attending skiing or snowboarding lessons, as it is in North America. This is in spite of the fact that helmet use is compulsory in Australia for school skiing and snowboarding competition events.

Some skiers and snowboarders are gradually getting the message about helmets, and a recent informal survey at Mt Buller (Buller Ski Lifts personnel, personal communication) estimated the rate of helmet use to be 20% among adults and 68% among children — but this still leaves over 30% of children vulnerable.

Snow-sports helmets now come in many colours, shapes and sizes, and are increasingly acceptable to young people. A helmet is probably the cheapest individual item of clothing for a ski holiday. And it may save your life.