2 Construction Workers Rescued While Dangling 6 Stories High After Scaffolding Failed

For the third time in a year, construction workers have had to be rescued while dangling mid-air by fire rescue teams in Southern Florida. Last year, there were two incidents in Sarasota, Florida that involved failed suspended scaffolding in as many months.  Just last week, another incident in Palmetto Bay required the Fire Department to intervene.

Thankfully, all of the workers involved in the 3 recent scaffolding failures were wearing their safety harnesses and none of the victims were seriously hurt thanks to the heroism of the rescue teams. The most recent incident saw two men dangling 6 stories above ground while doing some exterior maintenance.

When rescue crews, led by Miami-Dade Firefighter-Paramedic Maggie Castro, arrived on the scene, they immediate focused on the man that was only dangling by his personal fall protection harness, because of the risk of compression injuries when hanging for an extended period of time. When crews arrived, the men had already been dangling for about an hour.

If you’re going to be operating one of these scaffolds in the near future, let this be another reminder to thoroughly check the equipment before operating it and definitely use a proper fall arrest system like these men did.

It’s not yet clear what caused this collapse, but OSHA is expected to do an investigation. Below is a video of the rescue, shared by CBS Miami.

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