A private hospital and gym are locked in a court battle over claims the loud noise from gym equipment is ‘like bombs being dropped’ and is risking patients’ safety.

Perth Day Hospital and Fitness Cartel Osborne Park, part of the Cartel Fitness chain, share a three-storey building in North Perth.

The businesses have been fighting in the WA Supreme Court since May over allegations the loud music and vibrations from the gym were enough to knock documents from the shelves of the hospital.

The day hospital obtained an injunction to limit Fitness Cartel’s operating hours the same month that litigation reached the Supreme Court.

Its lawyer, Martin Bennett, on Monday claimed the gym’s ‘weight-dropping events’ exceeded noise regulations, the Australian Financial Review reported.

Vibrations from the events were enough to send cardboard boxes of files flying from the hospital shelves and rattle an electric clock to the ground.

The court heard about 85 per cent of Fitness Cartel’s customers used its weight lifting equipment.

Perth Day Hospital spent $16million refitting the first floor of the building in November 2024.

Fitness Cartel Osborne Park (above) has been forced to partially shut after s neighbouring business made a noise complaint

Perth Day Hospital (above), which shares a building with the gym, claimed noise vibrations from workouts were enough to knock files off shelves

Its upgrades included four operating theatres and consultation rooms for specialist pain management and gastroenterology services.

Fitness Cartel Osborne Park underwent its own remodelling just months later.

It refitted a neighbouring property and the second floor of the building with new bodybuilding equipment and studios for pilates and Hyrox classes.

The gym’s remodelling was finished by late 2025. 

The new activity saw the hospital take the gym to court just a few months later.

Fitness Cartel lawyer Simon Davis argued the commercial building wasn’t suitable for a day hospital.

He added none of the gym’s activities were unusual for a fitness centre.

Mr Davis instead claimed the vibrations were an issue from the building itself, not the Cartel Fitness. 

Fitness Cartel Osborne Park claimed the building (above) in North Perth wasn’t suited for a day hospital

He called on the hospital to prove the building was suited for a hospital and highlighted the financial loss the gym had already suffered from the injunction.

Mr Davis argued the gym had been forced to close, costing about $14,450 a day in revenue.

It had also damaged the gym’s reputation, broken customers’ trust and slowed membership growth, the court heard.

However, social media posts shown to the court showed the gym had, at least, partially continued its operations.

An attempt to change the injunction to allow the gym to operate under new restrictions was refused.

The case continues.