12.04.2011

Harnesses save lives

We have received a series of photographs this morning of an amazing – albeit far from textbook –rescue of six or seven men who are alive today thanks to them all wearing a decent harness properly and attaching their lanyards to a steel safety line.

Sadly we do not known where or when it occurred, although we would hazard a guess at Korea. Perhaps one of our readers knows?
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The collapsed structure left six or seven men dangling from their harnesses- but alive

The men appear to have been working on the construction of a bridge/viaduct when the steel structure they were working from collapsed. They were all left dangling from their lanyards attached to the running line which held.
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The tensioned safety line caused the men to slide to the low point of the line

So everything worked exactly as it should and was then followed by the rescue, which compared to the safety measures appears to have been less well planned to say the least.
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The harnesses all appear to have been worn properly and the lanyards short

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The men cling together to await recue

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Which initially comes in the form of a man standing on the hook of a crane

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He works to sort out their lanyards securing them to the crane

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A tricky job

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Waiting for...

A man standing on the headache ball of the crane is lowered to the group of men where he appears to have secured them to the crane’s main hook while a 360 excavator is brought in and proves high enough to reach the dangling men.
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The arrival of the excavator which thankfully is high enough

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The men are transferred to the bucket

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and unhooked from the crane

The rescuer then cuts the lanyards leaving the men in the excavator bucket, from where they were most likely lowered to safety.
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The lanyards are all cut

Meanwhile, what appears to be another group of men, are stranded on the column of the bridge and they too are rescued by the crane which simply lifts them by their harnesses and lowers them the ground.

While not quite textbook stuff it does show why harnesses should always been worn when working in high places from which it is possible to fall. Or for that matter in the basket of any type of boom lift.
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It appears that these men are trapped on top?

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and so are rescued with the crane

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Then lowered to the ground

Vertikal Comment
One wonders what damage these men may have suffered in the groin area? Although the fact that they had short lanyards, well fitted harnesses and that the steel cable would have provided a great deal of shock absorption might have saved them from the worst?

The fact that they were huddled together may have also helped a little in avoiding suspension trauma?

One thing is for sure, a safety officer/planner will be feeling very happy after the rescue in that the provision and implementation of the right safety equipment has saved at least six or seven lives.