Belay safety at Gyms/ not just a joke!!!

I witnessed a potentially dire accident at the Boulder Rock Club recently. After seeing a really bad top-rope pendulum fall, my partner noticed that the climber was only tied in through the waist belt (skipped the leg loops). I didn't want to be a jerk, but I felt I had to say something. When I went over, I noticed that her harness was not doubled back either. When I mentioned this, her partner seemed startled, and surprised (apparently the partner knew better but did not double check).

Luckily, the harness seemed pretty new, and the belt held without being doubled back, but it did loosen, and wound up in the climbers armpits.
She was especially lucky she didn't fall out of her harness (as she was almost upside down at one point). While the climber should have been better trained, it was also clear that she was a beginner. I believe that her partner was at least partially responsible for not being very watchful.

I know gym belay tests seem redundant, if not annoying to seasoned climbers, but in this case I wish they had been more strict. I felt a little creeped out for a few days after seeing this 'near miss'.

Everyone has to start somewhere, and everyone deserves to be a beginner without being picked on for it, but some lessons NEED to be drilled perfectly. If you see something unsafe, say something, you could save a life.

Agree - that's the partner's responsibility if the other was a total newbie. You can't trust them to do anything right for a while. Newbies often get embarrassed by the formality of safety double-checks and using climbing terms like "on belay and off belay." The experienced person has to fight through that and make them realize that's what real climbers actually do. It's not some Boy Scout overkill or something.

Totally, I once saw someone deck from the top of the lead wall at Miramont in Fort Collins. Luckily she was ok, but she couldn't climb for over a year...

Belay safety everywhere is important. Was climbing on Tom's Thumb in Arizona, top roping some ugly offwidth. The climber next to me (I knew him) was trying to impress some hot babe he was with. As he leads up next to me on a climb about 15 feet to my left and 50 feet off the deck, I notice his harness isn't doubled back and yell out to him. Boy, was he embarrassed. Luckily he was able to double it back somehow. Always a good idea to check your partner just to be safe.