While we all love extreme activities of one kind or another, no one takes safety more seriously than those who love to flirt with danger.
It might sound contradictory, but it’s true!
Ziplining is a hugely popular activity, but anyone can see that there’s also a huge potential for injury in an activity like that.
So, is it safe?
Yes, ziplining is safe. Obviously, it is not a zero risk scenario, and there are dangers involved. But as long as all safety precautions are followed, you have a very low chance of doing yourself any real harm. Always pay attention to the guide—this is rule number one.
So, generally, like with any such activity, there’s obviously some risk of injury during ziplining.
But statistically speaking, you are at an extremely low chance of such an injury.
As long as you pay attention to all safety rules and what your instructor says, you’ll be fine.
Let’s find out more.
What are the risks of ziplining?
Injuries do occur while ziplining—let’s get that out of the way first.
It’s obvious to anyone that there are dangers associated with an activity like this.
You are suspended sometimes hundreds of feet in the air, with a sheer drop below you.
While the equipment is strong and safe, there are still naturally things that can go wrong.
One of the most common injuries associated with ziplining is broken bones.
Around 46% of all ziplining injuries involve broken bones, which is by far the single biggest share of the overall injuries in ziplining.
Then you’ve got things like bruises, strains, and head injuries, like concussions.
Falling from a great height or at a great speed can very easily cause broken bones and head injuries, even though helmets are a vital ingredient of any ziplining company.
There’s no eliminating the risk entirely, but it can be reduced to almost zero.
The percentage of actual accidents relative to the number of daily ziplines shows that accidents make up a tiny, tiny portion of overall ziplines.
But more on that later.
Any extreme activity like this carries risk, then—for many, they wouldn’t even be interested if it didn’t!
That’s part of the thrill.
For the rest of us, though, safety is the most important thing.
So, let’s look at how to zipline safely.
How do you zipline safely?
If you take one piece of advice away from this piece, it’s that you need to listen carefully to every word your instructor says.
They will go through the safety steps day in, day out, and it will be their number one priority to keep you safe while you are ziplining.
So, if you do nothing else, listen carefully to your instructor, and make sure you take on board every single thing they say.
Wearing the right clothes is an important one.
You want to make sure most of your skin is covered, and you’re wearing tightly fitting clothing.
You don’t want anything too baggy that will become tangled in the buckles or the harness.
If it’s wet weather, be sure to tread carefully on any slippery platforms.
Stay far away from the edge until you are strapped in.
Some obvious things include not playing with your phone while you’re ziplining, and generally paying attention to your surroundings when you’re about to go.
But, again, your instructor will cover all of this and more in the orientation.
Be sure to listen carefully to everything they say, and you won’t have anything to worry about.
The elephant in the room, then—what about zipline related deaths?
Has anyone ever died on a zipline?
Unfortunately, yes, people have died while ziplining.
It does happen from time to time, though it is extremely rare and becoming rarer.
Typically, deaths result from extraordinarily unfortunate situations.
Particularly, deaths occur when one person attempts to save another from danger, as happened to a 70 year old man in California recently.
So, yes, deaths on a zipline do occur, but they are really nothing to worry about for you.
Statistically, you are more likely to injure yourself on the drive to the zipline.
But the potential dangers obviously mean that you need to make safety your main concern, to reduce the risk as far as possible.
How often do ziplining accidents happen?
Comparatively speaking, ziplining accidents are more common than some other activities, but are still extremely uncommon.
Taking 2012 as an example, around 3,600 injuries occurred in that year.
That means around 12 people per 1 million people in the population.
So, as you can see, it is very low.
However, compare this with accidents in amusement parks—only around 0.0127 accidents per 1 million people.
So, they certainly are more common than other types of accidents.
But safety precautions are getting more robust every day, and ziplining companies want to avoid accidents more than anyone.
Ziplining is perfectly safe as long as you listen to every piece of safety information you are given.
So, again, the simple answer is that yes, ziplining is definitely safe.
As with any extreme sport activity, the risk is never zero—but it’s very close to it.
The onus is indeed on you to ensure you follow all advice you are given, and you listen carefully to that advice in the first place.
Ziplining companies make safety their first priority, so you have nothing to worry about on that front.
