On the 8 August 2025, a company that operated the Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym and two of its directors, were convicted and fined for breaches of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) (WHS Act) by the District Court of NSW.

In October 2021, an experienced recreational climber attended the climbing gym and used an auto belay device to climb a 12.5-metre-high wall, in the main room of the gym. During his climb, the lanyard that was supporting his weight snapped and he fell approximately 12 metres to the floor below, suffering fatal injuries.

SafeWork NSW and the NSW Fire and Rescue Technical Service examined and tested all three auto belay devices at the gym. The examinations identified a number of wear and tear indicators on an auto belay device and lanyard. The manufacturers warning label on the auto belay device recorded the next service due date of July 2021, which had not been undertaken.

A further auto belay device and lanyard was also inspected which revealed the tri-lock carabiner gate was not fully closing as designed, the lanyard webbing was worn with the greatest wear on the lanyard webbing edge facing the climbing wall and the manufacturers warning label recording the next service due date of September 2021, which had not been undertaken.

From the date of installation of the auto belay devices in 2019, there were four entries in the maintenance log held at the gym that identified issues with the auto belay device and no record of any service in July 2021.

Deficient safety systems in place prior to the Incident

The SafeWork investigation revealed that there were no safety systems in place at the gym to ensure that the auto belay devices were subject to regular daily or weekly inspections or more comprehensive inspections every six months. No maintenance system was in place to ensure that factory servicing of the auto belay devices was in accordance with the service due dates.

Steps taken following the Incident

Following the Incident, the gym implemented a new inspection and maintenance policy and engaged an external agent to conduct an overall review of the gym documentation to control risks in recreational climbing.

SafeWork prosecution section 19(2), 27 and 32 of the WHS Act

SafeWork commenced prosecution proceedings against the gym for a breach of section 19(2) and 32, of the duty to ensure that the health and safety of other persons was not put at risk from the conduct of the business operations, which created a risk of death to a person.

SafeWork also prosecuted two directors of the gym for breaches of section 27(1) and 32 of the WHS Act, in failing to exercise due diligence to ensure that the gym had in place processes and resources to minimize the risks to health and safety, failing to ensure the gym ensured the auto belay systems were subject to appropriate factory serving and failing to direct the gym to provide information, training and instruction to workers in relation to inspections of the auto belay systems.

The gym employed approximately 50 persons in the conduct of the business.

Court determination

The Court found that there was an extremely obvious risk to safety and measures to reduce the risk were readily available but not taken. The court determined a penalty of $500,000 against the gym which was reduced to $281,250 for an early plea and capacity to pay issues.

The failures of the two directors were intimately linked to that of the gym. The Court held that:

“The risk was obvious and the measures that the directors ought to have taken were readily available to them“.

The court determined a penalty of $150,000 against each director, which was reduced for an early plea and capacity to pay issues, to $112,500.

Both directors received criminal convictions for the section 27 breach, for the failure to take reasonable steps to exercise due diligence to ensure the company complied with the WHS Act.

This article was written by Greg McCann, Partner.