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Anaconda in court over accident 9-Jul-2010 At 12:59:14 PM contactgav

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Anaconda prosecuted after schoolboy “needlessly injured” in climbing fall
29 June 2010

Anaconda Group Pty Ltd has been prosecuted after a 14 year-old boy fell around nine metres from the top of a climbing wall in its Frankston store, due to damaged climbing equipment.

WorkSafe Victoria found that the November 2008 incident occurred because the belay equipment had not been installed safely by the contracted installer; and Anaconda had failed to adequately train workers on equipment maintenance and inspection.

“For kids, climbing walls are supposed to be about having a bit of fun with your mates. And the reason kids can have fun is because they know it’s 100% safe, and they don’t have to be scared of falling,” WorkSafe’s Manufacturing and Logistics Director Ross Pilkington said.

“In this case, it wasn’t safe – someone fell and was seriously injured. What makes it worse is that the incident was entirely avoidable and a person was needlessly injured.

“This prosecution is a strong reminder to climbing wall operators to check their health and safety processes - is your equipment installed correctly? Do staff know how to maintain it and are checks carried out regularly? And are there safe ways for staff to carry out these checks?”

“Operators have a duty towards members of the public to make sure their services and equipment are fail-safe – this is the only way their customers are going to have confidence in them,” Mr Pilkington said.

The Frankston Magistrates’ court yesterday fined Anaconda Group a total of $70,000 without conviction, after the company faced two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004.

The charges related to failing to ensure that members of the public were not exposed to health and safety risks arising from the conduct of an employer’s undertaking; and failing to provide instruction and training to staff so that they could properly maintain and inspect the climbing wall and equipment.

At the time the incident occurred, the Frankston Anaconda store was using a controlled descent device called the Redpoint Descender (the descender unit), which had been temporarily installed for the opening of the store.

The descender unit was attached to the top of the climbing wall with a nylon sling, which was attached to an anchor point inside the wall.

The incident occurred when the nylon sling frayed and broke due to abrasion against the rigging hole. At the time, the 14 year-old was near the top of the nine metre wall. When he let go of the wall, he fell to the ground - sustaining multiple fractures to his left foot.

“Anaconda failed to ensure the descender unit was safely installed, and failed to train staff on how to inspect and maintain the wall and the climbing equipment – which includes the descender unit, slings, climbing rope and associated fittings.

“They also failed to develop a system for this maintenance and inspection which staff could follow,” Mr Pilkington said

Following the incident, WorkSafe issued three improvement notices, requiring Anaconda to remedy the safety issues around the wall, as well as training and maintenance failings.

As a result, Anaconda has replaced the belay system with the Spectrum Sports AB32 auto belay system, which eliminates the use of slings. Staff have been trained in inspection, and a ladder has been installed to make sure they can safely access the top of the wall for inspection and maintenance.