When Canadians think of winter sport risk, they picture spectacular crashes: a hockey player slammed into the boards, a skier tumbling down a steep run, a speed skater wiping out at high velocity. But for insurers on the claims side, those headline-grabbing incidents aren’t what drive the bulk of winter losses.
According to Jeff Smith (pictured), SVP, claims & operations at Markel Canada, the most common winter claims are rooted in something far more mundane: people slipping and falling in and around sports venues.
“We tend to think about outdoor winter activities – ice rinks or ski hills,” he said. “But often, the biggest driver of claim activity is what happens as we transition. Risks aren’t limited to outdoor winter activities – indoors become more hazardous.”
That simple shift in focus – from ice surface to entranceway – has major implications for how organizers manage risk, and how brokers advise them.
Smith draws an important line between inherent risk, which participants accept when they choose to play a sport, and residual risk, which falls more squarely on the shoulders of operators.
Inherent risks are the obvious ones: collisions during a hockey game, a twisted knee on the ski hill, a fall during figure skating practice. They’re part and parcel of participation, and are usually addressed through coaching, rules of play, equipment and training – often supported by waivers and education.
Residual risks, by contrast, sit in the environment around the sport: the condition of parking lots and walkways, how entrances are designed and maintained, what happens in lobbies, stairwells and corridors, how spectators move through the building. These are not risks a participant can meaningfully control, and they’re where liability claims tend to cluster.
Winter magnifies both types of risk – harder surfaces, higher speeds, cold‑affected reaction times – but from an insurance standpoint, the residual risk around the building is where the volume is.
“In the winter, the same loss control measures and maintenance you had in the summer can’t just stay the same,” Smith noted. “Bringing in ice and snow and slush creates really hazardous conditions indoors.”
The problem starts at the door.
Every person who walks into a rink, gym or community centre in February carries the weather with them – packed snow in treads, ice stuck to soles, meltwater on coats and gear. That moisture hits a hard surface floor and quickly turns into a slick, near‑invisible film.
From there, the risk compounds:
Smith says that when insurers look back at the winter claim file, the pattern is clear: “It’s not an exciting answer, but slip‑and‑fall claims are the most common winter loss that we experience.”
The good news is that many of these losses are highly preventable with relatively straightforward controls – provided organizers recognize the hazard and treat it as a priority.
Smith points first to the entrance itself. A single, narrow rug at the door is rarely enough. Effective winter controls usually mean a true multi-stage mat system: an exterior scraper mat, a substantial absorbent mat just inside the entrance, and then a further transition mat, giving people multiple chances to shed snow and water before they hit bare flooring.
That has to be backed by winter-specific cleaning and inspection. The inspection and cleaning regime that works in July is inadequate in January. Operators need more frequent checks of entrances, stairwells and high traffic corridors, coupled with documented cleaning cycles. That documentation can be crucial when a claim arises.
He also highlights the importance of thoughtful exterior–interior transitions. Lighting, handrails, signage and the physical layout from parking lot to lobby all matter. Clear, well-lit paths and obvious “dry zones” reduce the chance that a misstep on black ice turns into a serious injury before a game even begins.
Finally, footwear isn’t just a performance or dress code issue – it’s a risk control. One simple but powerful measure is requiring participants to change out of outdoor boots into clean indoor shoes before stepping onto courts or entering bench areas. “Making sure you’re not wearing the same footwear indoors that you wore outdoors really is one of the biggest winter hazards we see,” Smith stressed.
