{"id":422019,"date":"2026-05-11T09:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T09:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/422019\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T09:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T09:10:09","slug":"extreme-edge-panmure-indoor-climbing-company-fined-350000-after-woman-child-injured-in-falls-just-18-days-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/422019\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Edge Panmure indoor climbing company fined $350,000 after woman, child injured in falls just 18 days apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

But there were no belay gates installed at the Extreme Edge speed wall, which would have reminded climbers to clip into the auto-belay device. <\/p>\n

Thompson jumped, believing she was clipped on to the device, but she was not. <\/p>\n

WorkSafe prosecuted Extreme Edge and the company faced two charges of exposing people to risk of harm or illness.<\/p>\n

Shaun Metcalfe represented the company and the court heard Extreme Edge was about to be wound up.<\/p>\n

On its website today it still called itself \u201cNew Zealand\u2019s largest indoor climbing centre\u201d.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Sam Cossey said in relation to costs, WorkSafe\u2019s in-house legal fees were modest but accountants had to assess Extreme Edge\u2019s financial position.<\/p>\n

The court heard a $35,000 payment had already been made to one victim but nothing to Thompson.<\/p>\n

Judge Belinda Sellars today heard the nerve damage Thompson sustained may be permanent.<\/p>\n

The child was in a wheelchair for several months, was absent from school for six weeks, and needed four separate surgeries over the following year and a half.<\/p>\n

He sustained permanent scarring and another disfigurement.<\/p>\n

The court heard the Extreme Edge accident had also traumatised the boy\u2019s closest relatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my view, the seriously aggravating feature in respect of this accident is it occurred only 18 days after Miss Thompson,\u201d Judge Sellars said of the child\u2019s accident.<\/p>\n

The Herald previously reported the company considered the event affecting Thompson could happen again<\/a> and suggested changes to improve safety.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe climbing wall before (left) and after the two accidents at Extreme Edge. The bright red flags signal to climbers they must be clipped to a safety rope. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

But the safety changes were not made before the boy suffered his accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the remedy had been ordered it had not yet been installed \u2026 the wall had remained open,” Judge Sellars said.<\/p>\n

The company accepted that it failed to take the reasonably practicable action of installing effective belay gates on the speed wall.<\/p>\n

And it admitted that after the incident with Thompson, it further failed to close the speed wall until appropriate controls were implemented. <\/p>\n

The court heard belay gates were used in some climbing gyms in New Zealand at the time of the incidents, but were not then an industry standard.<\/p>\n

Judge Sellars said WorkSafe had argued \u201cthe likelihood of someone being killed or seriously injured if they fall from height as a result of not being safely attached to ropes is obvious\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judge Sellars decided on a penalty starting point of $700,000 for Extreme Edge.<\/p>\n

Extreme Edge director and majority shareholder Nico Buik was in court.<\/p>\n

Judge Sellars said \u201ca restorative justice process\u201d was engaged in with Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Buik is extremely remorseful about what had occurred,\u201d the court was told. <\/p>\n

For remorse, the company received a discount.<\/p>\n

The judge said Extreme Edge was entitled to a further 10% allowance for previous good character.<\/p>\n

She settled on a fine of $350,000 and directed an emotional harm payment of $50,000 be made to Thompson.<\/p>\n

The remaining reparation payable to the boy and his parents was set at $15,000. <\/p>\n

After the sentencing, Buik declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But there were no belay gates installed at the Extreme Edge speed wall, which would have reminded climbers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[20391,216675,28976,74,103394,1558,26985,2511,12630,1656,4731,11746,545,15248,19631,78,69620,10933,5511,101,111,139,69,216674,51519,50643,213,3608,102,1354],"class_list":["post-422019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-20391","tag-216675","tag-accidents","tag-after","tag-apart","tag-been","tag-bones","tag-child","tag-climbing","tag-company","tag-days","tag-edge","tag-extreme","tag-falls","tag-fined","tag-in","tag-indoor","tag-injured","tag-just","tag-left","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-panmure","tag-separate","tag-smashed","tag-sports","tag-were","tag-with","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}