Minors under 16 years of age must wear a standard commercial winter sports helmet whenever using the ski slopes to participate in winter sports.  

• Parents, guardians or chaperones are responsible for insuring to the greatest possible extent that those in their charge comply with this requirement.
• Head protection must also be worn on maintained pistes when using all types of winter sports equipment, such as ski bobs and toboggans. 
• The helmet requirement only applies in the following Austrian provinces: Salzburg, Upper Austria, Styria, Lower Austria, Carinthia, Burgenland and Vienna. 
• No legal requirement is currently in effect in the provinces of Tyrol and Vorarlberg. However, Vorarlberg has issued a public recommendation that ski helmets be worn.
• The law does not foresee inspections to insure that the helmet requirement is being met. Guardians are also not subject to penalties if a child does not wear a helmet. The intent is purely to make people clearly aware of the dangers associated with children skiing or snowboarding without a helmet.
• That said, failure to comply with the helmet requirement may result in problems with insurance providers, who may refuse to cover costs resulting from an accident. 

Nonetheless, outfitting children under your supervision with helmets (which can be borrowed either for free or at minimal expense from area rental centers as well as ski schools) is the most sensible step, since most skiing accidents also involve a high risk of severe head injury – with a helmet, you can significantly reduce the risk of major head trauma.