Injury Due to Fitness Equipment: Can You Sue?

Many people wonder if you can sue after suffering an injury while using fitness equipment. If you’re seriously injured as a result of defective or inherently unsafe fitness equipment – whether at home or in a public gym – you may be entitled to compensation.

This issue has become more relevant during the COVID-19 lockdown because many people have invested in home gym and exercise equipment.

How many people are seriously injured by gym equipment?

Every year, thousands of people are injured – and some are killed – by gym equipment. South African statistics are hard to source, but in the United States 468,315 people were injured by exercise equipment in 2019 alone.

Earlier US statistics report that over a 17-year period, 114 people died of injuries associated with using free weights and weight machines. The equipment wasn’t necessarily defective, but it shows that injuries from using this equipment is far more serious than sprains and strains.

Examples of defective/unsafe gym equipment

Exercise equipment injuries can be caused by design flaws, manufacturing defects, faulty installation or improper use. These are some of the most common defects and faults in gym equipment.

Treadmills

Faulty or incorrectly aligned treadmills are involved in a large number of serious fitness injuries. Common faults are belts being improperly tightened, missing safety features (like an auto-stop function), gaps in the moving belts and hanging cables.

Exercise bikes

Missing or broken pedal straps, improperly attached seats and handlebars, and exposed gears and belts on exercise bikes are common causes of injuries.

Resistance bands

Injuries often happen when resistance bands snap, slip or break.

Weight-lifting equipment

Serious injuries are commonly caused when weight racks, cables or bars are damaged, defective or worn.

Workout machines

Large, tall machines, such as elliptical machines, stair climbers and pulley systems, that are poorly designed or improperly installed often tip over, causing serious injuries.

Common injuries from gym equipment

These are the most common injuries sustained while using gym and exercise equipment:

• crush injuries due to falling weights
• slips and trips
• cuts, scrapes and abrasions
• strains
• face and eye injuries
• muscle and tendon sprains and tears
• knee injuries
• herniation
• slipped discs.

More serious injuries include head and brain injuries, as well as neck and spinal cord injuries.

Suing the manufacturers of fitness equipment

If you’ve been injured by faulty fitness equipment through no fault of your own, you may be eligible to pursue a compensation claim against the manufacturer of the fitness equipment.

Manufacturers have a legal obligation under the Consumer Protect Act and through product liability laws to avoid causing harm to their customers, in this case the user of fitness equipment. This is called duty of care.

The manufacturer may be considered to have failed in its duty of care and could be liable for compensation if a user is injured because of a:

• design fault in the equipment
• manufacturing defect
• failure to warn.

This applies to defective or inherently unsafe equipment used in a public gym or at home.

To file a successful compensation claim you’ll need to be able to prove that the manufacturer breached its legal duty of care by failing to ensure that you weren’t harmed while using its product. You must also be able to prove that your injuries were a direct result of that breach.

Of course, there are factors that influence a manufacturer’s liability.

Fitness equipment must have been used for its intended purpose when the injury was caused. You can’t sue a manufacturer if, hypothetically, you were running backwards on a treadmill when you fell and were injured.

Other factors that would influence liability include the equipment being used by appropriate people. They must be within the recommended weight range, age and fitness level.

A manufacturer’s liability is also affected if the risks could “reasonably” have been predicted. A manufacturer is obliged to provide user instructions where warnings are clear and visible.

Can I sue a gym or fitness centre for injury?

Yes, you can sue a gym, but it depends on the circumstances. Like any business, gyms have a duty to keep their patrons safe. But compensation claims for injuries caused by a gym’s fitness equipment is complicated.

Many gyms and fitness centres ask clients to sign a liability waiver – also referred to as indemnities or disclaimers – as part of the membership deal. A liability waiver doesn’t necessarily protect a gym during a compensation claim.

Some liability waivers try to provide total immunity for gyms. These are hard to enforce in court.

Other waivers attempt to limit the gym’s liability for equipment-related injuries. A waiver is less likely to cover a gym in the case of negligence by the gym’s staff. For example, if a gym failed to maintain the equipment properly or knew equipment was faulty and failed to fix it, the gym may be guilty of gross negligence.