Marist boy strangled on high ropes camp prompts safety review
Investigators have called for a safety review after a 14-year-old Marist College Ashgrove schoolboy was strangled by safety ropes on a high ropes course almost four months ago.
The year 9 student was airlifted to the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in a critical but stable condition after falling from a high ropes course at the Adventure Alternatives camp in the Sunshine Coast hinterland on May 23.
Connor Petterson suffered severe neck and head injuries and a collapsed lung after the accident and spent a week in hospital recovering.
Following an investigation by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, an alert has been issued calling for a safety review of the use of the lanyards that strangled the schoolboy.
"The participant was wearing a sit harness with a D-ring on the front of that harness. Attached to that D-ring were two lanyards of the same length," the safety alert said.
"These secured the participant to the safety line above the obstacle through two independent karabiners (climbing clips). These two points of contact were maintained throughout each section of the course.
"On this occasion, the use of twin lanyards of equal length contributed to the strangulation of a participant on a high ropes course.
"The participant fell from the element and their head slipped forwards between the two lanyards.
"The participant was unable to free himself and his weight caused the two lanyards to become taut on either side of his neck, applying pressure and causing strangulation.
"The supervising instructor became aware that the participant was unable to pull himself back onto the course and performed a rescue using a belay system."
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Investigators recommended that devices be installed to keep the two safety lanyards apart to ensure a similar strangulation does not occur again.
The safety alert said using lanyards of different lengths should be considered and each of the lanyards should be made from a single rope so there are no loops where body parts can be caught in.
Supervision guidelines should be reviewed and rescue kits should also be checked to make sure they are readily available if needed, according to WHSQ.
Connor Petterson spent five days in intensive care before his condition was downgraded and he was released two days later.
The school cancelled the year 9 camp following the accident, which happened on the second day.
The company behind the camp has always maintained the incident was an accident.