Exerciser found in shower at Perth 24/7 gym dies

Latest News

September 5, 2024

A man who collapsed in the shower at a Perth 24/7 gym last month and lay undetected for 15 hours has died in hospital.

Giuliano Pirone, aged 33, collapsed after working out at the gym in the northern Perth suburb of Wanneroo on the morning of 20th August.

Having suffered a brain injury, Pirone, who was apparently training for his first bodybuilding competition, had been in an induced coma, on life support, at Joondalup hospital for two weeks.

Reports indicated that Pirone felt unwell while working out and, having made his way to a shower, collapsed in one of the cubicles. He is understood to have spent 15 hours unconscious without anyone noticing.

He did not regain consciousness after the incident, with doctors telling his family he may have had a seizure.

On the day of the incident the young father’s family called emergency services after he failed to come home from his job as a building supervisor.

Western Australian Police located Pirone at Culture Fitness in Wanneroo at 10:30pm by pinging his mobile phone and had to break the shower door down to get to him.

They found him lying on the floor under cold running water and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived.

He did not regain consciousness and an MRI confirmed he had lost brain function.

The ABC reported that doctors told his family they believe his blood sugar levels became extremely low, his blood pressure dropped and he may have had some kind of seizure.

In the days after the tragedy, his mother, Daniela Pirone said she was “dumbfounded” that nobody had noticed him after he fell and hit his head earlier that morning.

According to the gym's website, it is only staffed for certain hours during the day.

Western Australian Police have assessed security camera footage from the gym and will now prepare a report for the state coroner.

Images: Giuliano Pirone (top, credit: supplied and below: source Facebook).

5th September 2024 - WA Consumer Protection warns gyms of enforcement of fitness industry code of practice

31st August 2024 - AUSactive comments on gym safety following bodybuilder collapse at 24/7 gym

27th August 2024 - AUSactive launches its inaugural Best Practice Pilates Guideline

4th April 2024 - Barrie Elvish takes AUSactive’s call for Federal budget to include tax deductibility for gym memberships to mainstream media

10th May 2022 - One man dead in gangland shooting at Sydney gym

22nd March 2022 - Man jailed for Darwin gym attack

13th October 2021 - Man dies after 13 metre fall at Sydney indoor climbing gym

10th June 2020 - Fitness Australia releases new industry code of ethics

16th November 2018 - Fitness Australia releases first-ever National Fitness Industry Code of Practice

16th June 2018 - Family members call for 24/7 gym regulation over man’s death in unsupervised gym

21st March 2017 - Exercisers stabbed in Sydney gym

7th December 2016 - Pathminder launches new solution for 24/7 gym security

23rd August 2016 - ExerciseNZ releases guidelines on management of unsupervised fitness facilities

6th September 2015 - AFIRM manual aims to improve gym safety

21st February 2014 - Gyms install needle disposal bins to cater for members injecting steroids

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.

Click here to view our subscription options.