Anthony Cleveland

It is possible and entirely foreseeable that significant medical problems may arise in an environment where people are exercising and may have underlying medical problems that could predispose them to collapse. Given the severity of the underlying coronary artery disease and subsequent cardiac arrest here it is not possible to say in this particular situation whether this tragic outcome could have been avoided with an earlier and more effective response, but the evidence here was that there was not a level of supervision that enabled the problem to be recognised immediately, and neither was there an adequate attempt to resuscitate once it had been established that a person had collapsed. There was also evidence of absence of adequate risk assessment in respect of gym users, a lack of qualified first aiders, and an absence of formalised national guidance on risk assessment in fitness centres and gyms. There was evidence that there was HSE guidance on swimming pool operations, but there is not for other facilities and it was felt that this would help the industry greatly, particularly given the proliferation of such gymnasia in recent years, if there was formalised national guidance on risk assessment in fitness centres and gyms.