Worksafe apologises for substandard investigation

Chief Inspector Keith Stewart and prosecutor DeAnne Brabant from Worksafe New Zealand have met with the family of Tauranga school girl Sophie McCauley to apologise for shortcomings in an investigation into a 2012 rock climbing accident that left the teenager with a broken hip and multiple fractures in her foot. The apology follows an independent investigation commissioned by Sophie’s family and a complaint to the Ombudsman in order to obtain the full investigation file from Worksafe’s predecessor, the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

In October 2012 Sophie was celebrating her 14th birthday with friends at Mount Maunganui indoor rock climbing facility, The Rock House. While descending from a ladder, her harness appeared to detach from the carabiner connecting her to the climbing rope and she fell four metres onto concrete. Sophie was taken to Tauranga Hospital where she underwent three hours of emergency surgery on her hip and had a cast applied to her foot which doctors said was too damaged to operate on. She spent four months in a wheelchair. Later, Sophie underwent another operation to have the metal plate and screw removed from her hip.

MBIE formally advised Mrs McCauley that it’s initial investigation cleared The Rock House of wrongdoing and suggested Sophie had failed to check her carabiner leading to the accident. ACC Advocate Michael Nepia reviewed the investigation for the family and came to a different conclusion.

“It is clear from the Ministry’s investigation file that The Rock House was not operating to MBIE approved safety guidelines” Mr Nepia said. “When Sophie’s carabiner failed there was no back up connection to protect her. There was no safety matting in the fall zone. Staff were not NZOIA qualified (NZ Outdoor Instructors Association) and the MBIE Inspector found that staff supervision was inadequate. An expert from MBIE assessed the facility (Matthew Bennett 13 Nov 2012) and noted:

“The main room is concerning. While it is designed to be challenging and hazards are engineered into it intentionally their controls are loose at best and non existent at worst.”

“Failure of a climbing wall operator to take all practicable steps to prevent harm to its clients is an offence under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.” Mr Nepia said. “In this instance MBIE decided not to prosecute and the family were not provided the full investigation file until the statutory deadline for a private prosecution had also lapsed.”

Worksafe have apologised for erroneously withholding information in the first instance, conducting a less than comprehensive investigation, and unfairly attributing blame to Sophie. They have also made a contribution towards the McCauley family’s costs in having the matter independently reviewed.

Sophie’s mother, Debbie McCauley, said her main concern has been to make sure similar accidents involving children are avoided in future. She is somewhat reassured that The Rock House have now instituted the double carabiner system that she recommended following the accident, and have installed safety matting. “It is disconcerting that the parent of an accident victim has to suggest safety methods to the business responsible for a serious harm accident to their child,” she says. “I would have thought that safety of children was paramount. These are logical precautions that should have been in place already.”

Of broader concern is that the Activity Safety Guidelines for indoor rock climbing operators developed by Worksafe (with input from Ms McCauley), are not statutory guidelines but merely a voluntary code. Ms McCauley says that the law needs to be strengthened so there are clear rules set for operators of such adventure activities and sanctions for non compliance. Otherwise further avoidable accidents are likely to happen.

“The doctors said that the serious injuries my daughter sustained will affect her for the rest of her life,” says Ms McCauley. “In our case the operator reassured me on arrival that what they offered was ‘fail-safe’, and quite clearly this was not the case. Without proper supervision, decent safety measures and common sense, children will continue to be injured. Adventure activities come with a high level of danger and operators need to step up and take responsibility for children in their care.”

Ms McCauley contacted MBIE herself to report the accident. “I expected them to thoroughly investigate the accident and take appropriate action,” she says. “According to their own review, that never happened.” Whilst dealing with the rehabilitation of her daughter, Ms McCauley had to request information from MBIE under the Official Information Act, lay complaints with the Ombudsman’s office, and finally consult a lawyer about the case. “I feel that we have been failed by a substandard investigation and re-victimised as a result,” she says.

ENDS

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