24.10.2011

Tower crane rescue

The emergency services in Arlington, Virginia were called on yesterday to rescue a man from the top of a 75 metre tower crane.
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The tower crane in Arlington on which the man collapsed

The man in his 50s, thought to be the crane operator, had suffered some sort of medical problem and was lying on the crane’s back mast/rear jib.
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While the man is tended to the stretcher is hauled up

A technical rescue team from the Arlington County Fire Department climbed the crane stabilised the man and secured him in a rescue stretcher and then were able to use the crane to lower him safely to the ground.
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The stretcher is lowered by the crane itself

Vertikal Comment

An increasing number of fire crews in North America and Europe are training to carry out such rescues. Given European rules on planning for such eventualities it is good practice to check with local emergency services in the vicinity of long term jobs such as this to check that they have the equipment and ideally the training to conduct such rescues.

If they don’t they will often take the opportunity to come along and conduct a training exercise on a large tower crane once it has been installed.