West Virginia Code 21-15-3 – Duties of a zipline or canopy tour operators
Every operator shall:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 21-15-3
- ACCT: means the Association for Challenge Course Technology. See West Virginia Code 21-15-2
- Canopy tours: means a facility not located in an amusement park or carnival which is a supervised or guided educational or recreational activity including, but not limited to, beams, bridges, cable traverses, climbing walls, nets, platforms, ropes, swings, towers and ziplines, which may be installed on or in trees, poles, portable structures or buildings, or be part of self-supporting structures. See West Virginia Code 21-15-2
- Challenge course standards: means the Challenge Course Standards: Association for Challenge Course Technology, Seventh Edition (2008), or substantially equivalent standards. See West Virginia Code 21-15-2
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Division: means the West Virginia Division of Labor. See West Virginia Code 21-15-2
- Operator: means any person, partnership, corporation or other commercial entity and their agents, officers, employees or representatives, who has operational responsibility for any zipline or canopy tour. See West Virginia Code 21-15-2
- Participant: means any person who engages in activities on a zipline or canopy tour individually or in a group activity supervised by a zipline or canopy tour operator. See West Virginia Code 21-15-2
- Person: means one or more individuals. See West Virginia Code 21-3A-2
- Special inspector: means a professional inspector who meets the qualifications set forth in ACCT or substantially equivalent standards and is certified by the division pursuant to section eight. See West Virginia Code 21-15-2
- Zipline: means a commercial recreational activity where participants, by the use of a permanent cable or rope line suspended between support structures, enables a participant attached to a pulley to traverse from one point to another, for the purpose of giving the participants amusement, pleasure, thrills or excitement. See West Virginia Code 21-15-2
(1) Construct, install, maintain and operate all ziplines and canopy tours in accordance with ACCT challenge course standards or substantially equivalent standards;
(2) Ensure that ziplines and canopy tours are inspected at least annually by the Division or a special inspector;
(3) Train employees operating ziplines and canopy tours in accordance with national standards associated with their profession;
(4) Procure and maintain commercial general liability insurance against claims for personal injury, death and property damages occurring upon, in or about the zipline or canopy tour which affords protection to the limit of not less than $1 million for injury or death of a single person, to the limit of $2 million in the aggregate, and to the limit of not less than $50,000 for property damage; and
(5) Maintain records for a period of at least three years from the date of the creation of the record of:
(A) Proof of insurance;
(B) Inspection reports;
(C) Maintenance records; and
(D) Participant acknowledgment of risks and duties.