In Quebec, the Mont-Édouard ski resort employs about sixty people, including snow groomer operators who work alone on the mountain at night. The director of operations and two groomer operators explain how the Neovigie app and its timed check-in mode replaced mandatory two-person shifts and text message check-ins.
It's great value for money. It's easy to roll out and easy to use. So I recommend it for the safety of your workers.
Mont-Édouard is a regional ski resort in Quebec, with two lifts and one of the largest patrolled backcountry skiing areas in eastern North America. Lumberjacks, snow groomer operators and trail crews are exposed to falls, cold and isolation.
Before Neovigie, the resort scheduled groomer operators in pairs, which was hard to maintain (schedules, absences) and costly. When an operator ended up alone, check-ins were done by text message, and a manager often had to wake up during the night.
After getting in touch through the Neovigie website, the resort ran a trial of about a month, with support from the customer service team to configure the missions. As fall detection is of little use for a driver seated in a snow groomer, the resort mainly uses the timed check-in (mission) mode: every 30 minutes, the operator confirms with one tap that everything is fine, otherwise their supervisors are called.
The resort plans to extend its use to lumberjacks working on the mountain in summer.
The request came from the groomer operators themselves: the solution was very well received and remains simple to use. The resort no longer needs to double up night shifts and recommends Neovigie to small and mid-sized resorts for its value for money and ease of rollout.
Video in French. English translation of the transcript.
We are a small regional resort. We have two lifts on the mountain. We also have a large backcountry skiing area in the hinterland, and it is one of the largest patrolled areas in eastern North America. At Mont-Édouard, we have about sixty employees. The ski world is made up of many different jobs, and some of them are risky: lumberjacks, groomer operators, and everyone working on the ski runs, who face several hazards, including falls, and who work in remote areas. We called on Neovigie to fill some safety gaps we had at the resort, especially when workers found themselves alone, at night, with our groomer operators.
We mainly use the Neovigie app when we work in the evening or at night and we are often alone on the mountain, or just two operators but at different spots on the mountain. The app is our safety line if we have a problem, if there is an accident: it is there to call Isaac or Marc-André so they can help us and come to our assistance.
Before we had the app, we didn't have much. If there was an accident, you had to hope you could reach your phone and call someone for help. The app is a real source of safety: if there is an accident and we can't reach our phone, we know someone will be alerted and will be able to come and help us within a reasonable time. At night it is cold, it is dark, we are alone on the mountain. It could take a long time if nobody knows we are in trouble.
The system is quite easy to understand. We had a few small problems at the start of the season, but the Neovigie team was always there to help us. As soon as we reported a problem, we got an update, a report, and it was sorted out. The app is really very easy to use. I start it when my shift begins and, at regular intervals, I just tap my phone to say I'm OK. I'm very happy with the app. It is a solution very well suited to our solitary night work, and very reassuring for us groomer operators. I would recommend it to anyone working in remote or isolated settings.
Before Neovigie, we always had to send groomer operators out in pairs so that no worker was ever alone on the mountain. But that was hard to maintain: there are scheduling issues, someone can be sick. So now and then, despite everything we put in place, workers ended up alone on the mountain. We relied a lot on text messages when the person left the mountain, but it was quite cumbersome, and someone often had to wake up at night to deal with it. It also increased operating costs: I don't always need two groomer operators, and it almost forced me to hire an extra person. It brought a lot of constraints and day-to-day management for the management team.
Why did I think of Neovigie? I figured there had to be a mobile app for this. I searched online and came across the Neovigie website. I sent a short message and got in touch with them. They showed me the product and everything their app could do. We had a good month-long trial, with very good support from the customer service team to set up the mission configuration. It is very flexible: there are many ways to configure it depending on the kind of work your employee does. We ran several internal tests to see what worked best. We mainly use it for our night groomer operators. As they are seated in a vehicle, fall protection is less relevant, so we went with the mission mode instead. You can set missions however you like, for as long as you like. We may also use it this summer for logging work, as lumberjacks also work on the mountain. The same app works just as well for a groomer operator as for people working more in the field.
In the groomer, I use the Neovigie app. It constantly checks that I am safe. Every 30 minutes, I have to confirm that everything is fine: my phone rings and I confirm that all is well. If there is a problem, it calls my supervisor, who can come and help me. I'm glad to have the Neovigie app on my phone, because I know I'm safe, and I recommend it to anyone who works alone or in remote areas.
How do the workers see it? It partly came from their own request, because they weren't comfortable working alone in the evening. When I brought in this solution, it was very well received and it wasn't hard to get workers to use it, since the request partly came from them. It was very easy to set up and it is still very easy to use.
I recommend Neovigie to all small ski areas, smaller operations like ours, where a groomer operator often has to work alone, or employees such as patrollers or lumberjacks. It's great value for money. It's easy to roll out and easy to use. So I recommend it for the safety of your workers.
