Student died after slipping while using gym’s weight machine, inquest told

A gym user died after slipping off a plastic step while using a weight machine with the bar then dropping and striking his head, an inquest heard.

Medical student Mohammed Farraj had been using an aerobic step to perform calf raises while using equipment called a Smith machine at the gym at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.

Detective sergeant Robert Waring said, in a statement read by the coroner’s officer, that a Smith machine is a “horizontal bar bell (which) runs vertically up and down on rails”.

The aerobic step was not part of the machine.

“It’s clear from watching the CCTV footage that this was a tragic accident,” he said.

He said that the 21-year-old was performing calf raises while using a “plastic step aerobic block” and “the plastic block can then be seen to tip towards him”.

He said that the bar “drops” and “forces his neck to the ground”.

Mr Waring said a safety feature on the machine was a set of adjustable stops which “should be set to the highest position possible” to stop the weight bar.

He said they had been “left in the very lowest position”.

He also described the use of the plastic step as “incorrect” and said it was “intended for a different purpose”, and that a weight disk could have been used instead.

Norfolk assistant coroner Johanna Thompson, concluding that Mr Farraj’s death was an accident, said that “safety stops on the equipment hadn’t been appropriately adjusted prior to” Mr Farraj performing his calf raise exercises.

“He used a step aerobic block to stand on,” she said.

“In doing so he slipped, causing the weight he had been lifting to fall onto him. This resulted in him sustaining a fatal head injury.”

Gym user Dr Trey Koev said he had been “less than two metres away” from Mr Farraj, using another piece of gym equipment – the incline bench press – interchangeably with his gym partner.

He said Mr Farraj had been using the Smith machine “with a stepping platform to perform calf raises”.

“All of a sudden whilst my gym partner was finishing his set I saw him slip onto the platform,” said Dr Koev, who is a research scientist at UEA.

“The bar carrying the weight came down.”

He said Mr Farraj “struggled to his feet very rapidly then tumbled, then both my gym partner and I rushed to him as we were the closest to him”.

Dr Koev said there had been red-coloured weights on either end of the bar – indicating 25kg each – and the bar weighed approximately 15kg, with the total weight as 65kg.

He said he “heard a loud bang of the bar landing down”.

Dr Koev’s gym partner, Dr Damian Laba, said he was using the bench press when he heard a bang, “stood up and turned round and saw Mohammed collapsing on the floor”.

“I realised this is potentially a life-threatening injury and I shouted for help to the Sportspark staff, to the reception,” he said, adding that he attempted CPR before Mr Farraj died at the scene.

Benjamin Price, head of sports operations at UEA Sportspark, said: “It appears Mohammed followed another person who had been using that equipment.

“It appears they had put the stops at the lowest level to perform the exercise they had chosen to perform – a hip thrust exercise.”

He said that it appeared a warning about the stops had not been on the Smith machine at the time, but was now in place.

The inquest was told Mr Farraj had a fast-track induction to the gym in October 2022.

His father, Hashim Farraj, said in a statement read by the coroner’s officer that his son was a devout Muslim and “loved life”.

He said his son grew up at the family home in Stoke-on-Trent, was part of a boxing club and “took his fitness and his health very seriously”.

“He liked to go to the gym and would run 10k in the morning on a regular basis,” he said.

He added that he had been training for an Ironman triathlon event.

The coroner extended her condolences to the family and friends of Mr Farraj.

The UEA Sportspark said in a statement after the conclusion of the inquest in Norwich that it was “deeply saddened” by the death of Mr Farraj.

“The safety of our gym’s users is, and always will be, our priority,” the statement continued.

“Following this incident, a full investigation took place, by the police and the HSE, who were both satisfied with the arrangements in place.

“UEA Sportspark has co-operated with fully the coroner’s inquiry and acknowledges the conclusion of the inquest.”