Aspiring doctor, 21, died in a university gym after a bar weighing 65kgs fell on top of him when he slipped while incorrectly using weight-lifting equipment, an inquest heard today.
Norfolk Coroner’s Court heard how fitness enthusiast Mohammed Farraj had failed to set the correct position for locking brakes on guide rails on a Smith Machine while doing a calf raising exercise.
Other gym users and staff rushed to help him and tried to resuscitate him after he was knocked to the floor by the falling bar and left with a fatal head injury.
Paramedics took over attempts to revive him when they arrived and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
An inquest heard that Mr Farraj from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, died from traumatic head injuries after the accident on the evening of October 16 at the University of East Anglia’s Sportspark gym in Norwich
The inquest was told how the machine, which was only two-years-old, did not have labels warning of the importance of fitting the brakes in the right position for different exercises.
The deceased was given a 15 minute fast track induction when he joined the gym in October 2022, was not given specific instructions on how to correctly use the Axiom brand of Smith Machine made by Life Fitness.
The inquest heard how the machine could be used for a variety of exercises with guide rails for a weights bar to go up and down, and brakes which could be placed in different positions to stop it falling on a user.
The brakes were set at the lowest point by the previous user of the Smith Machine who was doing a hip thrust exercise with his upper back on a bench, and CCTV showed that Mr Farraj did not alter them when he started his exercise.
He should have put the locking brakes into a higher position as he was standing up for his exercise, but his failure to do so meant there was nothing to stop the 65kgs weight from falling and hitting him when he dropped it after stumbling and losing his grip.
