A lot of safety discussions center around how to keep yourself from falling off or being launched from lifts, but not many safety discussions involve how to get off of them when you’re in danger. Just recently, two construction workers in Boise, Idaho had to make some quick decisions as their welding blanket caught fire while they were in the lift.
At the time of the fire, the boom lift was extended roughly 60 feet in the air and they were too far away from the building to be able to jump to safety. Worse yet, the control board on the basket no longer was disabled due to the fire. As the flames started to get larger, quick thinking workers on ground level were able to swing the basket towards the building, which allowed the two men to jump to a ledge on the sixth floor. The two men were able to get away with only minor burns and were treated for smoke inhalation and KBOI in Boise reports they are doing well.
I’m not sure there are many situations than being trapped by a fire, but these two aren’t the first to have to jump to safety to avoid being badly injured. Dramatic footage of a construction worker trapped on a 5th floor balcony of a $50 million Houston apartment complex engulfed in flames was caught on video in 2014. In the video, you can see the worker lowering himself down the fifth floor balcony and swinging onto the fourth floor balcony, where he was rescued by a team of firemen. That building, which was nearing completion, was completely destroyed by the fire.
Luckily for the crew at the recent Boise job site, the fire was able to be contained within the basket of the lift. It’s a sobering reminder that job sites can and do catch fire and split second decisions need to be made in order to save lives when it happens.
Below is the raw video footage of the men jumping off of the lift:
Below is the full news story from KBOI:
On Tuesday morning, February 23, the Syracuse Fire Department responded to a call about a collapsed crane on a construction site near the university. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.