Setter dies while setting routes in a gym

Connor Freefall wrote:

Full respects to Lee, his family, his loved ones, and his friends. Climb on in his memory.

The routesetters at my local gym seem to tie off one end of the dynamic rope to a hanger at the bottom of the route, then jug on the other side of the "fixed" line. That introduces double the length of rope that can fail while supporting your body weight. A very far cry from the industry accepted standard of two, independent fixed STATIC lines with a primary for jugging and a secondary for your fall arrestor.

I'm incredibly interested in the OSHA report and more focus on the industry. Every setter I've met has a "I've been doing this for years" mentality about their rope access habits when they've become complacent on a simple fact: Rope access is not rock climbing. If the person you learned from is not an IRATA/SPRAT instructor, don't trust your life to their FA-FO.

Knowledge: technical rescue trained with IRATA 2.

With all due respect this might be a good start of a new thread. I know it’s not your intention, but you are somewhat conflating things you have seen in other gyms with an accident you don’t know the details of. Let’s keep this thread clean of speculation and open a new one of setting experiences and systems? 

Evan Kirk wrote:

With all due respect this might be a good start of a new thread. I know it’s not your intention, but you are somewhat conflating things you have seen in other gyms with an accident you don’t know the details of. Let’s keep this thread clean of speculation and open a new one of setting experiences and systems? 

Hi Evan, I feel that would be correct in the Memorial forum, but this is the thread discussing the accident. If it's too early to discuss the incident because there are no details, I shared forward my professional experience on this topic, not personal anecdotes or conjecture about what occured. Full respect to you as well.

Not to add fuel to the speculative fire but as someone who worked and set with Lee for multiple years I figured I’d add some personal insight. At Vertical Dreams we always used static ropes for setting, typically using two ropes fixed to two independent ground anchors. Lee was always a big advocate for safety so I can’t imagine a scenario where he would deviate too far from that standard.

Like everyone else I have no idea how this accident actually happened, but I do think it would be best to wait and see what comes out of whatever investigations may happen before sharing our own theories about this incident. 

Regardless of how it happened this is terrible to hear. Very sorry for his friends and family. I hope they will properly look into the accident and make sure it does not ever happen again. 

Cristian Will wrote:

Not to add fuel to the speculative fire but as someone who worked and set with Lee for multiple years I figured I’d add some personal insight. At Vertical Dreams we always used static ropes for setting, typically using two ropes fixed to two independent ground anchors. Lee was always a big advocate for safety so I can’t imagine a scenario where he would deviate too far from that standard.

Like everyone else I have no idea how this accident actually happened, but I do think it would be best to wait and see what comes out of whatever investigations may happen before sharing our own theories about this incident. 

Thanks for your insight and deeply sorry for your loss of a friend.

Connor Freefall wrote:

Full respects to Lee, his family, his loved ones, and his friends. Climb on in his memory.

The routesetters at my local gym seem to tie off one end of the dynamic rope to a hanger at the bottom of the route, then jug on the other side of the "fixed" line. That introduces double the length of rope that can fail while supporting your body weight. A very far cry from the industry accepted standard of two, independent fixed STATIC lines with a primary for jugging and a secondary for your fall arrestor.

I'm incredibly interested in the OSHA report and more focus on the industry. Every setter I've met has a "I've been doing this for years" mentality about their rope access habits when they've become complacent on a simple fact: Rope access is not rock climbing. If the person you learned from is not an IRATA/SPRAT instructor, don't trust your life to their FA-FO.

Knowledge: technical rescue trained with IRATA 2.

I didn’t know Lee super well. But he seemed pretty safe and solid. Everyone has off days and mistakes in the air are high consequence. It can happen to the best and has. Regardless he will be missed and his work for the community in NH will be forever remembered.

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Route setters are not working under a RAT program and never will be.

1. setting and trying moves in a RA harness would suck. There’s zero need for a full RA kit in this scenario.

2. Requiring a team of 2/3 and maintaing a level 3 on site during setting isn’t practical.

3. Maintaining certifications for route setters who are making a fraction of what RA techs make would be hard. 

The track record for deaths and severe injury in RA also isn’t that great (much better than most heavy industry work.

Other notes: having a ground anchor with twice the amount of rope shouldn’t be an issue as industry practice is to have a retrievable anchor on the ground. If you are worried about your system like this you need to readdress your rigging and TRA to verify things.

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1749609.015

Investigation Summary

Investigation Nr: 166758.015

Event: 05/21/2024

Employee fatality is due to fall from indoor climbing wall

At 1:30 p.m. on May 21, 2024, Employee #1 was setting a new route on an indoor climbing wall, which involved installing new holds. While climbing near the top of the wall, the knot securing the end of the climbing rope to a railing failed, causing Employee #1 to fall approximately 40 feet to the floor below. The employee sustained fatal blunt force trauma upon impact with the floor.

Wow. says a lot and nothing at the same time.  no indication of what type of knot failed.  better tie a gud one... 

Is anyone familiar with the gym? What is the climbing railing that it the line was tied to? Like a actual rail?
For a knot to fail it either had to be of known variant that cyclic loading effects (simple bowline), or perhaps not a knot at all, maybe a clove and with no safety finish?(I have read a few incident reports that refer to hitches as knots.)
Also seems like it was only a single line considering language that a knot failed and he fell if using 2 rope system this language would not make much sense. Still a huge bummer, but more info would be nice. Perhaps more will become available when the case is finally closed. Shows to be open still.

https://verticaldreams.com/wp-content/gallery/manchester/keith-shaft-11.jpg

https://verticaldreams.com/wp-content/gallery/manchester/kev-shaft-1.jpg

If the knot failed, as in came untied or slipped somehow, it’s very possible we’ll never know. If it was tied incorrectly or was an improper type for the application, I assume no one with the knowledge to understand noticed before it came untied. I would be surprised if security footage was clear enough to be able to determine.

That a route setter died really sucks.  Setters are unsung and mostly anonymous heroes who make my life immensely more fun.  

please pardon a change of subject 

After listening to Molly Beard on a pod and then watching setters work, the work really does look very intensive and grueling.  

I don’t want to speculate about what went wrong, but given the dues we pay, I feel emboldened to ask that gyms use lifts and other equipment and pay the wages and benefits so that setters can do their jobs well and safely for a long time.

A lift pays for itself pretty quickly given that you can set a route in half the time.  And I would guess it's safer (though I don't have any stats to back that up).

The lift idea sounds great for safety, but I'm wondering if route setters prefer to be able to try out the moves as they set the route. I very rarely go to gyms so I am not sure on what route setting practices are usually used. Just thinking off the top of my head. I assume if the setter already knows where all the holds will go, that would work. But if some prefer to make the route up or change things as they set the holds, the lift idea may not be preferred. The flooring of most gyms is often uneven and is made up of hard foam, or something similar, which would cause another problem for the lift to get around on.

If you look at the OSHA violations in the report, they cite "Duty to have fall protection and falling object protection" and "failure to have head protection"

Additional details:

" On or about May 21, 2024, an employee preparing for routesetting on an indoor climbing wall was not protected from a fall of approximately forty feet where fall protection was not in use and the employee stepped over the guard rail of the wall."

"employees were exposed to struck by hazards from falling objects where protective helmets were not required to be worn when employees were routesetting on the same wall face above one another."
 

This doesn't sound like an equipment failure, but just an unroped fall from some highpoint. 

Separate from the specifics of this accident-- my sense is that the big chain gyms will all transition to setting routes in a way that is more OSHA compliant. Outside of the cultural context of a climbing gym, there's no other business that could get away with the non-standard safety rules gyms follow when  resetting routes. The big chain gyms are getting big enough that it's gonna start being too big of a liability. 

MP wrote:

If you look at the OSHA violations in the report, they cite "Duty to have fall protection and falling object protection" and "failure to have head protection"

Additional details:

" On or about May 21, 2024, an employee preparing for routesetting on an indoor climbing wall was not protected from a fall of approximately forty feet where fall protection was not in use and the employee stepped over the guard rail of the wall."

"employees were exposed to struck by hazards from falling objects where protective helmets were not required to be worn when employees were routesetting on the same wall face above one another."

Those are just more violations that they have levied fines, not tied to the fall, just discovered in the investigation so they hit em with it. I have dealt with OSHA investigations, so understandably confusing.

This doesn't sound like an equipment failure, but just an unroped fall from some highpoint.

No, a knot failure was attributed to the fall. He was roped up. From the report:
At 1:30 p.m. on May 21, 2024, Employee #1 was setting a new route on an indoor climbing wall, which involved installing new holds. While climbing near the top of the wall, the knot securing the end of the climbing rope to a railing failed, causing Employee #1 to fall approximately 40 feet to the floor below. The employee sustained fatal blunt force trauma upon impact with the floor. The employee was killed.

Separate from the specifics of this accident-- my sense is that the big chain gyms will all transition to setting routes in a way that is more OSHA compliant. Outside of the cultural context of a climbing gym, there's no other business that could get away with the non-standard safety rules gyms follow when  resetting routes. The big chain gyms are getting big enough that it's gonna start being too big of a liability. 

Not true. As an entertainment/aerial Rigger/Technical Director, much of my work literally falls into a grey area outside OSHA. That is a major part of my job....to make lawyers and govt. agencies happy because regulations do not apply.

Thanks for your insight.

 Can you clarify why OSHA doesn't apply to certain jobs? 

MP wrote:

Thanks for your insight.

 Can you clarify why OSHA doesn't apply to certain jobs? 

OSHA applies to some parts of our job to be clear. I'll give some not wildly detailed examples, but hopefully get the gist across.

For example, being tethered (fall arrest or restraint) when certain distance form a parapet/edge that is not 42" tall, or doesn't have 42" high railings. This applies to us.

An example that falls outside standard...our performing on single lines. OSHA stipulates in most sectors, you must have a work line and a back up line. Can't do awesome choreo with a 2 rope system, so we don't fit into the regs of OSHA, so I have to be very sure to mitigate typical risks that a back up line would make a much lesser issue as one small example.

Another example is arborists, They very much have some OSHA regs they must abide to, however much of the work there is just not a standard or reg to be had to apply. This doesn't make it illegal to do, just means higher insurances, more scrutiny and you better have you shit in order if being inspected such as equipment logs etc.
If we had an accident, OSHA would surely over see the investigation, but how they assign fault comes down to investigation of my sectors "best practices" and then seeing if we were negligent in that respect or just plain negligent in many forms. From there side, it is also a grey area to try and put fault when its not a clear violation. Like in this incident, The are not being levied fines because someone died, or because the rope failed. They levied fines on things that are clear violations of regs, IE no helmets for people working below. In my world, I could get hit with that same thing.

An example of something that OSHA could ding us for is expired equipment, or equipment out of spec, not having fall restraint, fall arrest in certain environments, etc.

In general its quite complicated existing in the grey area of H&S. And this also varies state to state, and even more so internationally. We have literally had laws changed in countries due to our work (Australia as an example) where they literally re wrote regs to allow performances like we do.

the amount of paperwork sometimes is just plain obnoxious to do stuff outside regs. I gotta be able to explain very well the why our rigs are safe to appease "the man". Sometimes though I am also amazed how little due diligence agencies want to confirm sometimes....or how they get hug up on the wrong thing. Safety is an ever evolving organism.

Mr Rogers wrote:

OSHA applies to some parts of our job to be clear. I'll give some not wildly detailed examples, but hopefully get the gist across.
… 

This is super interesting. Thank you for taking the time to share it.

One of the big OSHA loop holes is ladders. You can do all kinds of sketchy shit with ladders and not need the fall protection but if you have nice solid roof brackets on the roof with good solid planks you can't be on them without fall protection.  Same thing goes for a flat roof or a super casual 3 pitch roof. cant step on that sucker without either fall protection or a guard rail around the whole thing but you can climb a 40ft ladder which is super scary to set up and work off of.  this is the reason that many roofing companies work completely from ladder hooks. Faster and less regulated.