On Friday 8th July the BMC Climbing Wall Managers Seminar took place at the Tower Climbing Centre in Leicester and was a resounding success resulting in a well-attended and informative seminar.

With 77 climbing wall managers in attendance many pertinent issues were discussed and decisions made. General approval and agreement was given for the new accident report system, which now means that the BMC will now be able to gather meaningful accident statistics that will be used to spot trends thus resulting in less accidents. Also under discussion was a generic Climbing Wall Registration Form which along with supporting documentation was developed by the BMC in conjunction with the Association Of British Climbing Walls (ABC). The idea behind the form is to raise awareness of risk (how many other sports ask questions such as "Do you understand that failure to exercise due care could result in your injury or death?") and provide evidence of that awareness. Walls around the country are being encouraged to use the form. Look out for one at your local wall.

The wall managers present were given a sneak preview of the revised version of the British/European Standard that relates to climbing wall manufacture, with maintenance schedules being included in the Standard for the first time. There was a presentation and discussion about the implications and practicalities of setting up an Indoor Climbing Wall Supervisors Award Scheme, look out for the ongoing discussions on this item over the next few months. The seminar also saw the launch of the new Belay poster, which is the latest addition to the BMC safety campaign. The poster was well received, please click here for further information. Apologies to those that attended for the poor acoustics and thanks to all for attending. A special thanks to Iain Mackenzie, Steve Taylor, Steve Richardson, Percy Bishton and Andy Say for their contributions.

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