First Aid in the Fitness Industry
Gyms under spotlight after man’s death
Updated August 18, 2011 12:56:00
Coroner calls for first aid training in gyms (7pm TV News VIC)
A Victorian coroner is calling for greater regulation of the
fitness industry after the death of a 29-year-old man at a Melbourne gym.
David Thomas went without CPR immediately after suffering a heart attack in
2007 because there was only one worker on duty and her first-aid training was
out of date.
The coroner found his death was not preventable, but on Wednesday recommended
the State Government introduce regulations for mandatory first-aid training for
gym staff.
Mr Thomas’s sister Jenny Cursio says her family has been fighting for four
years to improve industry regulations.
“We never wanted it to become anything more than a vehicle where we could
make a change,” she said.
The Thomas family’s lawyer, John Cain, says the Government must act
swiftly.
“The clear message from the coroner is that the industry regulation that has
existed to date has failed, it’s inadequate,” he said.
“What the coroner is saying is the Government needs to step in, fill that
void, and introduce some regulations.”
The gym’s owner, Fitness First, supports the move.
Topics: accidents—other, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, melbourne-3000, vic
First posted August 17, 2011 19:33:23
Comments (14)
Comments for this story are closed, but you can
still have your say.
ABC (Moderator):
17 Aug 2011 8:29:45pm
Do you think gyms need tougher regulations?
Alert moderator
hairy nosed wombat:
17 Aug 2011 9:02:49pm
All gyms and public swimming pools should have Automated External
Defibrillators (AEDs). There is very good evidence for this – they would save a
few lives a year across Australia, and are only a couple of thousand
dollars.
Alert moderator
TigerLee:
17 Aug 2011 11:54:59pm
I’m a regular weight trainer and frequent the gym and believe that everyone
does need to be sensible and be responsible for themselves. If you know yourself
and your body well enough and you are honest with yourself then you should know
your limits, etc. Having said that, there needs to be more guidance in the gym
and DEFINITELY people with First Aid training on the gym floor – not just one
person. Not sure that this environment should be too heavily regulated – don’t
we have enough of that but something needs to happen. Gyms need to be more
responsible and sensible when it comes to its patrons and their health &
safety.
Alert moderator
Lindsay Cooper:
17 Aug 2011 8:39:48pm
No! We have more than enough regulations now and many of them don’t work
as intended. Regulations concerning drugs just keep the price up.
Alert moderator
peter of mitcham:
17 Aug 2011 8:59:25pm
Yes I do! Personally I wouldn’t go anywhere near them but my wife attended
one of those “women only” gyms. How does that work? Isn’t it against the law to
discriminate against someone in providing a service on the basis of their
gender? Anyway this mob was downright dangerous in the pressure they put on
people. Them and their stupid little school games trying to shame people into
exercising harder. I think they should be tightly regulated. Take down the “No
Pain No Gain” signs and put up one that says “A Fitter Person Is Not Necessarily
A Better Person”
Alert moderator
Founder:
17 Aug 2011 8:59:52pm
Most of the time I go to the Gym there is no one on duty.
Will they ban
the 24 hour gyms?
People do need to take some responsibility for their
own lives.
Alert moderator
Michael:
17 Aug 2011 11:01:16pm
I completely agree. Let people be responsible for their own decisions. I know
that I want to be.
Alert moderator
Foundette:
17 Aug 2011 11:47:19pm
“People do need to take some responsibility for their own lives.”
How
would they do that? By administering first aid to themselves after they’ve
collapsed?
Alert moderator
Lawrie:
17 Aug 2011 9:09:56pm
No! While I don’t use a gym, I run and work out with weights in my own home.
What ever happened to personal responsibility? Take control of your life. If you
slip over in a supermarket, you should have taken more care, instead of
expecting to sue the supermarket for ‘their negligence’. If you have a fatal
heart attack walking up steps, sad, but that is life.
Alert moderator
Jeppa:
17 Aug 2011 9:17:12pm
Gyms do need to take occupational health and safety more seriously than they
do. They are high risk areas, but there seldom seems to be anyone qualified to
deal with injuries or illnesses available. At any other high risk workplace, not
having a staff member with a current first aid certificate would be completely
unacceptable.
Whether the government is able to – or even should – change
the way gym managers choose to run their facilities is another question. A
better approach would be for consumers to ask serious questions about safety and
the qualifications of *all* staff before signing up. There are plenty of gyms
out there to choose from.
Alert moderator
CVL:
17 Aug 2011 9:28:34pm
Absolutely – I’ve seen some appalling behaviour from on-duty gym
“instructors”, from running away to laughing when people have seriously injured
themselves on the equipment. And then there are those 2-3 hour windows that
every gym I’ve been a member of has where there are no staff on
duty.
Clearly the only way forward is through the threat of government
sanctions on an organisation and/or an individual.
Alert moderator
rod:
17 Aug 2011 9:29:30pm
No
I suppose first aid training is desirable for anyone, but there is
no extra risk in a Gym over anything else you do.
I just think we need
less rules and more common sense.
Alert moderator
FitnessEmployee:
17 Aug 2011 9:52:19pm
In SA, it is an industry standard that gym instructors, personal trainers and
fitness instructors have up to date CPR and First Aid along with relevant
qualifications. It is also common sense as fitness facilities have a duty of
care over all people in their centre, so why wouldn’t a facility ensure staff
know what they’re doing? Good centres hound their employees when certificates
fall out of date; even better ones provide training regularly to ensure no one
has an excuse. I have never worked in a centre that will employ someone without
first aid and CPR training (and I’ve worked in LOTS of SA fitness facilities).
I have worked at a centre where a client has died from a heart attack
and staff were quick to respond and keep the client alive until paremedics
arrived. Often, despite all the best cues and care and precautions from fitness
centre staff, people just have heart attacks or other health issues. In the case
I was exposed to, it was caused by something unpreventable, whether the client
was at the gym, at home, or at a hospital.
People do need to accept
personal responsibility and recognise their boundaries when exercising AND staff
have a responsibility to provide safe and effective information regarding a
person’s exercise regieme and known health issues. This is why many choose to
exercise under supervision of fitness facilities rather than on their
own.
If you feel you are not getting this from your fitness centre, ask
them why, as its a legal requirement (and common sense). It might also be time
to shop around for another gym!
Regarding “shaming” participants into
exercise: every instructor is different, same as doctors, nurses, physios,
lawyers, etc. and if you don’t like their personality, try another instructor.
Some do use pushier techniques (like what you imagine or see on TV), but more
use motivational psychology and encouragement as these are proven to get better
long-term results which ultimately serves the industry better and provides job
security!
Alert moderator
Teubes:
17 Aug 2011 10:31:21pm
The gym supports it ? if I owned the gym I would of already trained all staff
in 1st aid and installed AEDs. A big gym like fitness first should already have
this in place. You would think, wouldn’t you ?
Alert moderator