Last month, Apex Climbing Gym, a bouldering-focused facility in Mishawaka, Indiana, received an OSHA exemption from the state’s work-from-height standard. As a result, Indiana’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA) plans to waive a previous citation (and penalty fee) and provide the gym with a permanent variance related to fall protection (i.e., bouldering mats). [Editor’s Note: At the time of this writing, the gym is still awaiting formal documentation of the variance.]
The long saga, which spanned many months, began in December, 2024, when an Apex routesetter suffered a fall from a height of approximately four feet while forerunning. The routesetter’s injury, a broken femur, prompted a visit from an IOSHA inspector and resulted in extensive analysis of the gym’s padded flooring—12-inch UCS mats. According to Apex’ Co-Owner, Michael Dickens, “Each step of the way, IOSHA was informative, timely, and great to work with.” Since IOSHA was not extensively familiar with the nuance of climbing gym operations, according to Dickens, they recommended that Apex contest the original citation and apply for the aforementioned variance related to the gym’s bouldering pads.
Ultimately, a safety standards committee voted unanimously on April 14, 2025, that Apex’ 12-inch bouldering mats were sufficient in providing fall protection. Dickens noted that Aaron Gibson, owner of Rock Island Climbing, and Garnet Moore, Executive Director of CWA, were among those in attendance for the vote. Christopher Morgan, Climbing Sales and Product Line Manager at UCS, was not in attendance for the decision but had provided valuable information related to Apex’ flooring, Dickens told CBJ. (Dickens also told CBJ that the routesetter who was injured in the 2024 fall eventually returned to climbing with no permanent issues.)
The case and IOSHA’s decision is likely to set an important precedent—not only for other gyms in Indiana but climbing gyms around the country. Neil Detweiler, Apex’ Operations Manager, said, “We were told that the permanent variance we were granted applied only to our gym specifically. But other gyms are encouraged to request their own variances, because at this point OSHA doesn’t have a quick way to apply this variance more broadly.”
