Court levies $450,000 in fines over man's death at Sydney rock climbing gym

A failure of safety equipment that led to a man falling 12 metres to his death at the Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym has led to the operating company and two of its directors being fined a total of $450,000.

Two of the three directors of Crestville Holdings, which operates Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym were fined $84,375 each in the NSW District Court on Friday, after they pleaded guilty to breaching their health and safety duties and exposing 28-year-old Andreas Araya to risk of death.

The company was also fined $281,250, after it pleaded guilty to failing to uphold duties under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

The pleas followed the Court hearing concerning details of critical safety equipment failures and missed checks that led to the man plunging 12 metre to his death at the facility in Sydney's inner west in October 2021.

Araya, who had attended the climbing gym multiple times before the incident, was climbing in the main room when the lanyard and auto-belay system supporting his weight snapped and he fell about 12 metres to the floor.

Paramedics attended the scene, but were unable to save him and he died at the gym.

As reported by The Australian Business Network, the Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym, which at one point had been the largest rock climbing centre in the Southern Hemisphere, had only reopened two days before Araya’s death.

The Court heard that Araya’s harness was clipped to a lanyard connected to an auto-belay, a device installed at the top of a climbing wall which allows climbers to release themselves from the wall and to be lowered to the ground in a controlled manner, without the help of another person.

When climbing, the lanyard would automatically retract as the climber ascended.

An inspection of the device he used by SafeWork NSW found a wear indicator on the lanyard had worn away and the lanyard was tightly jammed inside the auto-belay’s lanyard drum, meaning it couldn’t be easily unravelled.

There was also wear and tear to other parts of the auto-belay system including the eyelet which connected carabiners to lanyards and the carabiner gate was not fully closing as designed.

Debris had accumulated inside the auto-belay’s nozzle, which was also worn down.

District Court Judge Wendy Strathdee noted the auto-belay should have been inspected at least three times before Araya’s death, after its last formal in-house inspection in January 2020.

As reported by The Australian Business Network, the Court heard that the auto-belay had also been due for a major service three months before, which hadn’t been done.

There had been four previous entries from an inspection and maintenance log at the gym, which noted the auto-belay had issues not taking up slack in the lanyard for the last one to two metres of a climb.

Although the gym had some safety policies and procedures, the Court found it had no systems in place to ensure daily or weekly inspections of its auto-belays, or more comprehensive reviews every six months.

, Judge Strathdee said the company also failed to ensure lanyards were removed immediately when they appeared damaged or when their wear indicators began to fray.

Further, there was no systems for tracking factory servicing of auto-belays or for cleaning the devices, as well as insufficient measures to ensure maintenance issues were reported and resolved.

Judge Strathdee noted that workers were also not trained on how to inspect and maintain the auto-belays.

Climbers had not been provided guidance that they should stop climbing immediately if slack developed in the lanyard, while using auto-belays, she said in her judgment.

After the fatality, Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym permanently removed all auto-belay systems and implemented a new inspection and maintenance policy, which included daily inspections, issue logging and external annual testing.

It also engaged an external agent for a review of the company’s documentation, before it implemented a new system for recording inspections and equipment changes.

Company directors Michael Garben and Simon Stevens were in charge of daily operations and the Court found they did not ensure there were systems to ensure the auto-belays had appropriate inspections and factory servicing, or that workers were provided with the necessary information and training.

Judge Strathdee accepted the gym’s workers were trained around top rope laying and logging maintenance issues, and there was signage throughout the gym with guidance around the auto-belay systems.

She also noted staff had visual inspections of the equipment during daily walks, but this “clearly was not enforced or implemented sufficiently to enable the auto-belay that caused the incident to be detected”, adding "there was an extremely obvious risk to safety.

“Measures to reduce that risk were readily available but were not taken.

“The deficiencies in Crestville’s systems were many and varied. The consequences of those deficiencies were, ultimately, catastrophic.”

Judge Strathdee noted accepted Garben and Stevens had shown remorse, and said they were unlikely to reoffend as they had made significant changes focused on health and safety.

Images: Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym (top) and the auto-belay unit involved in the incident at the facility (below). Credit: SafeWork NSW.