IceInline Central was involved in an urgent meeting on Tuesday night with Ice Rinks Association of NZ (IRANZ) following the second death in a month at two Canterbury facilities.

While helmet use is compulsory for all school and community groups using Central Otago facilities (Alexandra and Naseby), there is currently no policy for the general public.

A 13-year-old died in Christchurch after hitting her head when stepping onto the ice, and just last week a curler at the Staveley rink also died after an incident in a private session.

IceInline Central secretary Dianne Elliott said the meeting with Ice Rinks Association of NZ went well, but there was still a lot to be done as the rinks individually sort their policies.

“We as a group, have met and had urgent discussions about what has happened and are working our way through what measures to take.”  

She said no further comment would be made, other than with IceInline soon closing for the season, the committee will have all summer to make decisions.

IceInline chairman Murray Miller said they had gone out and bought an extra 30 helmets two weeks ago but, ideally, they would prefer people brought their own to use at public sessions.

“We don’t want it to be that there isn’t one available for people. But we’re not at the stage of making them compulsory.”

He said while IceInline was in charge of running the Alexandra facility, they had no control over what happened in club times, when curlers, figure skaters and ice hockey players were using the rink.

Maniototo Adventure Park manager John Grant said last week because of the range of ice activities offered in Naseby, such as the luge, helmets were widely used by people.

While not part of the IRANZ meeting, he said it was obviously a “very hot topic” at the moment, and they would come up with a very suitable outcome in terms of its policies.

Read more: Helmet policy reviewed after tragedy