On November 3, 2023, an 11-year-old boy fell from a 14-meter-high climbing wall during a children's party and subsequently died. This occurred at a climbing gym in the center of Amsterdam. The court ruled that the climbing gym exercised insufficient control and adequate supervision, and concluded that the death was caused by negligent homicide. The court provides an explanation of this ruling.
The court imposes a fine of €60.000 on the climbing hall, half of which is conditional. The two directors of the climbing hall have been sentenced to 120 hours of community service.
The climbing hall organizes children's parties where children - accompanied by parents and under the supervision of an instructor from the climbing hall - can do top rope climbing. This is a form of indoor climbing via climbing routes on a climbing wall where a climber is secured by the person standing on the ground. The children's party that the boy was part of was supervised by two instructors from the climbing hall and four parents.
Insufficient control and adequate supervision
Climbing is a risky sport, with the possibility of serious injury. The duty of care of the climbing gym, especially for minors who are not aware of the dangers, is therefore very great. A mistake can have enormous consequences, especially if the climbing is done to a great height. According to the court, the climbing gym did not sufficiently ensure the safety of the children and neglected its duty of care by the way in which it organised its children's parties. Especially within a climbing sports company that organises and supervises children's parties, the participants must be able to trust that they can climb safely. The company's rules were not suitable to sufficiently guarantee safety.
Mandatory physical check of instructors
The court finds that the climbing gym should require its instructors to physically check the belay chain every time a child wants to climb. The company should have made the instructors responsible for checking that the climber and the belayer are properly secured to the rope.
Death by negligence
The court ruled that the company was careless and negligent. As a professional climbing company that organizes children's parties on a commercial basis, it is familiar with the risks of climbing and the major consequences that a fall from (great) height can have. The company had children belayed by inexperienced parents, without physically checking each time whether the belaying had been done correctly. In doing so, it placed the fate of the children in the hands of an adult who had only had half an hour of lessons in belaying, while the training for someone who wants to climb independently takes six hours. The company could have prevented a climber from being secured incorrectly before climbing by taking a relatively simple measure - making a physical check by its instructors mandatory. In doing so, the climbing gym failed to take adequate measures and breached its duty of care. This can be attributed to the company and the two directors. The careless actions resulted in the boy falling and dying.
Source and more information: www.rechtspraak.nl