‘Fun day out turned into an absolute nightmare’: Trampoline centre fined over injured child

A fine imposed on an indoor trampoline company has more than tripled after an appeal.

Back in March of this year, Bounce Australia was fined $12,500 without conviction in the Geelong Magistrates Court after pleading to two charges of failing to ensure customers were not too exposed to health and safety risks.

The original sentence carried out in March, however, was set aside on Tuesday, 17 September, as the County Court instead ordered the company to pay a fine of $40,000 without the conviction – more than triple the original charged amount. The company was also ordered to pay $5,557 in costs.

The incident that the company is being charged for occurred in May 2022, when an 11-year-old and two friends were using the climbing wall area at the indoor trampoline centre in Grovedale.

According to WorkSafe, each wall at the centre had an auto-belay system that involved the use of a cable attached to an automatically retracting friction device at the top of the wall. A carabiner was affixed to the bottom of the cable and clipped to a mat at the base.

Customers were required to unlock the carabiner and attach it to their harness for the impending climb, resulting in releasing the mat onto the floor, before reattaching it to the mat afterwards for the next person.

After doing two successful climbs following this procedure, the boy and one of his friends went to a wall where they could both race each other to the top.

With eagerness and excitement at the front of his mind, the boy did not notice that the auto-belay was retracted at the top of the wall, as he mistakenly thought it was already clipped in due to the mat at the base residing on the floor.

In a race, the boy quickly climbed to the top of the wall and pressed the timer button. After pressing the button, the boy pushed himself off the wall. Instead of slowly lowering towards the ground, the boy fell four metres from the very top, fracturing his sternum and experiencing soft tissue injuries to his back as a result.

WorkSafe’s investigation found the company did not have systems of work in place to ensure customers were adequately being overserved in the climbing area and advised of the safety protocols before entering the area.

“What had been a fun day out turned into an absolute nightmare for this boy and his family, who should have been able to rely on Bounce to ensure there was proper supervision and instruction for the activities on offer,” said WorkSafe executive director of health and safety Sam Jenkin.

The court found it was reasonably practicable for Bounce to implement several safety measures, including:

• Maintaining a supervision ratio of one employee to 15 customers.
• Ensuring employees in the wall climbing area were not also required to fit harnesses.
• Preventing entry to the climbing area for unaccompanied children under 12 years.
• Providing a documented activity plan for employees that sets out the supervision requirements for the task.
• Directing all customers to watch a video demonstrating how to safely use the belay system and requiring employees to test customer knowledge about the video.
• Requiring customers under 12 years to have a parent or guardian present for the safety briefing.

“Ensuring patrons are appropriately supervised, briefing customers on how to safely use equipment, and ensuring children are accompanied by a parent or guardian are simple steps duty holders should take to ensure they manage the inherent risks involved in indoor adventure activities,” said Jenkin.