CWA Blog Archive-Address Broken Rules In The Gym

Address Broken Rules In The Gym

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This article uses a vivid domestic metaphor, a father calmly addressing broken glass and a child who ignored his rule not to touch it, to explore how gyms should handle broken rules. Just as a functional family sets guidelines while accepting they won't always be followed, a climbing gym is founded on rules being followed alongside the awareness that this won't always happen. What matters, the author argues, is knowing how to teach staff to react and properly address rules that are broken, rather than pretending rules will never be violated. The core principle is that it starts with training, and specifically with helping staff understand why rules exist. You must inform staff why rules are important to get their buy-in and enable proper enforcement. The article highlights a real challenge: not every staff member has the same climbing experience or firsthand knowledge of the situations that safety measures address. Some staff may have never used an assisted braking device or may not know how to lead climb, yet they need to understand the basic rules of lead climbing and safe assisted-braking-device use in order to keep members safe. Without that understanding, staff can't credibly or effectively enforce rules they don't grasp. The article features Brad Szlezak, Operations Manager at Edgeworks Climbing, summarizing his gym's method for training employees on handling rule-breaking. The throughline is that effective rule enforcement depends on educated, bought-in staff, and that gyms can't assume employees understand the safety rationale behind every rule, especially staff who lack the climbing experience to have encountered the dangers firsthand. By training staff in why rules matter, giving them the knowledge to understand safety measures they may never have personally needed, gyms equip employees to enforce rules confidently and address violations properly rather than mechanically. The domestic metaphor reinforces the accepting-but-prepared stance: broken rules are inevitable, like a child breaking a household rule, and the goal isn't preventing every violation but responding to them calmly, knowledgeably, and consistently, which requires investing in staff understanding first.

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This piece uses a father addressing broken glass to frame how gyms handle broken rules: violations are inevitable, so what matters is training staff to respond well. Since staff often lack firsthand experience with the dangers behind safety rules, gyms must teach why rules exist, equipping employees to enforce them confidently and consistently.