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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

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St Peters Gym accident 24-Sep-2016 At 11:13:22 AM Happywanderer

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We can all learn from accidents..and I think one of the underpinning reasons why 'Accidents & Injuries' exists as a topic in this forum is to offer up a means to assess the causal factors and perhaps implement new strategies to avoid the identified hazards/risks in the future. Aircraft crash investigators comes to mind...pilots and aviation industry can learn from each others mistakes - so things trend toward improvement over the long term.

Some questions I have (which would help promote the aim of improving safety):
1. What diameter rope was used?
2. The stated belay device was 'ATC' - did it have V jamming grooves/cleats? (see link here: http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/climbing-belay-rappel
3. Was the belay person anchored to the floor or standing free?
4. Weight of climber?
5. Weight of belay person?
6. Was all gear BYO - if no, which items were supplied by the gym?
7. Had the climber and belay person been an existing team - in that...had they climbed together many times previously and developed a strong climbing partnership? Or, were they a relatively new climbing partnership?
8. Did they review and discuss procedures before embarking on the climb at the gym?
9. Was there anything that could have distracted the belay person momentarily? (ignoring normal and routine activities that would have been in progress - eg other climbers going about their activities in a routine way).
10. Did the belay person have any existing injuries or strains or any medical issues? (Note: Difficult to disclose medical issues - which may be personal and private).