25 people treated for burns after hot coal walk ‘team-building exercise’ in Switzerland

Company says the ‘fire walk’ at the event was voluntary

File. Dozens of employees of a Swiss company, Goldbach were injured during a private team-building ‘fire-walking' exercise (AFP via Getty Images)

Twenty-five people were injured on an island in Switzerland after attempting “fire walking” during an office team-building exercise.

Reports said that emergency services were called to the private event near Lake Zurich on the Au peninsula (municipality of Wädenswil in Switzerland) on Tuesday evening.

According to local police, 13 people were taken to the local hospital for treatment as they suffered severe burns while the remaining were treated on the spot.

A police statement said that “based on the report received, the ambulance service deployed a large contingent”, adding that “25 people received medical treatment on the spot, 13 of whom had to be hospitalised with serious injuries”. Some local outlets have, however, pointed out that 31 people received medical treatment on site.

The details about the event or who was conducting the team-building exercise of walking on burning coals have not yet been confirmed.

BBC reported that 10 ambulances arrived at the private event on Tuesday evening around 6pm local time. Besides the ambulances, there was also a large rescue vehicle and two emergency medical teams.

Police said that the group had been asked to walk over a bed of glowing coals barefoot as part of an exercise.

The bed of coals appeared to be several metres long and police confirmed that the people who had agreed to the exercise shortly after walking over the bed, reported pain.

Police have launched an investigation into the matter and are looking at whether there was an issue with the set-up of the coals or whether it had something to do with how the participants walked over it.

Fire-walking or walking on glowing coals is often used as a motivational exercise or as a personal challenge.

Blick, a German-language Swiss news outlet, reported that the event was organised by an advertising marketing company Goldbach (TX Group). “A total of 150 people were present at the event,” Iris Blättler, head of communications at Goldbach was quoted as saying.

In an internal letter circulated throughout the company on Wednesday, the CEO Michi Frank informed employees about the incident and said that the fire-walk was a “voluntary team activity.”

“After appropriate preparation, the participants were allowed to walk barefoot over glowing pieces of charcoal,” he said. He said that he was also present during the event, according to the news site Klein Report.

He wrote in the internal letter that a fire-walk is “unproblematic due to the short contact with the embers.” Unfortunately, several people suffered burns on their feet, he added. “In this context, several participants had to be treated on site by medical staff or taken to the hospital.” The CEO wished everyone a speedy recovery and offered support if needed, according to reports.

The company’s spokesperson, Iris Blättler was quoted as saying: “The fire walk was voluntary. The message on site was: Nobody is forced, everything is voluntary.” When asked by the Klein Report about the severity of the condition of those injured, Ms Blättler said: “No one was injured in a life-threatening manner. But I don’t know how many are still hospitalised.”

According to the How Stuff Works website, firewalking depends on a combination of poor conduction [red-hot coals are covered with ash that transfers their heat even more slowly], insulation [ash acts as a layer of insulation] and a short time span [fire-walkers brisk walk on the coals so they limit contact with individual coals to a very short time span].