Must admit that the mere fact that the accident occurred has me somewhat puzzled.
At my old Gliding Club where winch launching was the only method used for club ops. Once the Glider was ready for launching with cable hooked on,
before the wings were levelled and the 'Take up slack' command given, the wing runner called out to the Pilot
'Canopy closed and locked? to which the pilot had to visually and physically check and read back.
Airbrakes closed and locked? was the next call and the Pilot reacted and responded.
The wingtip runner then looked overhead and behind him, panning to base and downwind, visually checking for traffic and if clear called out
All clear above and behind and then and only then levelled the wings and gave the take up slack command to the winch radio operator.
I was under the impression that this was supposed to be standard procedure at all Gliding Clubs in Australia!
The above mentioned procedures were SOP at my old Club anyway, and this was back in the 1970's.
G'day Mary. Think I met you somewhere here in Aussie back in the 80's. Cannot remember now. Too many Red wines.