Safety resources

Safety

Alongside the ABC Industry Operational Guidelines, we provide a range of safety tools for free to our members.

These can all be accessed via the Member’s portal. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Incident Reporting Database

The ABC runs the Incident Reporting Database (IRD), an end-to-end reporting and incident investigation tool for climbing walls. This reporting forms an important part of a climbing wall’s safety procedures and legal obligations. The IRD provides valuable data insights for individual climbing walls and at an industry level.

Key features:

  • Initial reporting for any accident or near-miss
  • Adaptable follow-up investigation, including file uploads, CCTV/image records, witness statements and more
  • Tracking of RIDDOR-reportable cases
  • Detailed data analysis and trend tracking at the centre and compared to national data (aggregate – wall data is private)
  • Different access levels for different staff users

The IRD is included in the ABC Climbing Wall membership at no additional cost. Visit https://report.abcwalls.co.uk

Screenshot of the incident reporting page of the IRD

Examples of the IRD interface (not real data). The Accidents Dashboard allows filtering by date and location, with national benchmarking and a tracking list of incidents requiring further action.

The Incident Report captures all required information from the incident and any follow-up.

Accident data is only visible to specific wall staff. All benchmarking data is aggregate only. 

Screenshot of the data analysis dashboard page of the IRD

Boulder Safety Video

The ABC Boulder Safety Video is available to ABC members in 12 languages, to help welcome and register climbers at the centre. It is ready to be linked into digital registration forms and CRM systems, providing vital safety information to native and non-native English speakers.

Languages available:

English, Welsh, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Polish, Arabic, Punjabi, Urdu, Chinese

Wall signage

We have a range of climbing wall signage available to our members, including:

  • Safe climbing and “Buddy check” posters
  • Safeguarding posters
  • Sign-in and supervision posters (in development)
  • ABC Participation statement

We recommend the use of the ABC Participation Statement which has been reviewed by industry insurers.

ABC Participation statement

All climbing activities (encompassing roped climbing, bouldering and auto belay activities) have a risk of serious injury or death. Participants must be aware and accept that even if they follow all good practice there may still be the risk of accident and injury. It is the responsibility of the participant to adhere to the conditions of use.

Tools and templates

We provide template and sample documents for many aspects of business operations, to encourage consistency and quality across the sector:

  • Risk assessments
  • Safeguarding protocols
  • Competency and supervision checks
  • Acknowledgment of risk (registration) forms

Our forms are produced by the ABC in consultation with a wide range of industry experts, insurers, and our member walls.

Members' area