Emergency responders scaled a tower construction crane late Monday afternoon to rescue an injured worker stuck 40 meters above the ground.
At least 10 people were involved in the rescue mission at a Bartley construction site that involved ascending the crane with a ladder and hoisting a stretcher up by rope to carry the injured man down. It was not clear what had afflicted the unidentified worker, but the Singapore Civil Defence Force, or SCDF, said he was immobilized by an injury.
“A man who was working on a tower crane 40 meters in the air had injured his leg and was unable to head down to safety,” the SCDF said in a statement.
The operation began at about 4:25pm and took over an hour to complete. The force filmed part of it.
The minute-long clip shows four officers make their way up to the man using a ladder to while the rest transport the stretcher from below. The injured man was later brought safely to the ground and taken to Sengkang General Hospital.
[Height rescue operation @ Construction site along How Sun Drive]
Yesterday at about 4.25pm, SCDF firefighters and specialists from the elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) were deployed for a height rescue operation at a construction site along How Sun Drive. A man who was working on a tower crane 40 meters in the air had injured his leg and was unable to head down to safety.
A team of four DART specialists climbed a cat ladder up the crane and traversed across its narrow arm to reach the injured man. They secured themselves in place and set up a lowering system involving ropes and pulleys. One of the specialists who was cross-trained as an Emergency Medical Technician treated and bandaged the man’s wound, all while being suspended 40 meters in the air.
On the ground, another team of DART specialists attached a stretcher to a rope that had been deployed by the team on the crane. Working in tandem, both teams of DART specialists hoisted the stretcher to where the injured man was. The team on the crane then worked carefully to secure the man firmly on the stretcher.
With all the pieces in place about an hour into the operation, it was time to bring the man down to safety. A DART specialist on the crane attached himself to the stretcher and was slowly lowered to the ground with assistance from the other DART specialists and the firefighters.
Back on the ground, an SCDF paramedic assessed the injured man before conveying him to Sengkang General Hospital.
Posted by Singapore Civil Defence Force on Monday, 7 September 2020
Singapore’s construction sector is heavily reliant on migrant laborers and was able to resume operations last month after worker dormitories were declared clear of COVID-19 only to see new outbreaks at more than a dozen sites in recent days
Construction injuries are also common, with three fatalities reported in January alone.
In 2019, Singapore recorded 39 workplace fatalities, the lowest in 15 years. Thirteen of those deaths were at construction sites. Incidents of non-fatal injuries increased by 5%.
There were three workplace fatalities since the start of 2020. The first worker was crushed by a toppled pallet of gas…
Posted by Singapore Ministry of Manpower on Saturday, 18 January 2020
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