Man critical after 3m plunge at Pav construction site

A MAN was critically injured when he fell three metres from scaffolding at a construction site at the Pavilion Shopping Centre on Saturday.

The man landed on a concrete slab about 50 metres above the ground. and a construction crane was used to get him to safety. According to Gary Paul, Netcare 911’s regional operations manager, the high angle rescue took one hour.

“Netcare 911 paramedics responded to a call for assistance,” said Paul. “When our team arrived on scene the man was lying the equivalent of some 16 storeys above ground level and there were no stairs or easy means of getting him safely down from the building. The paramedics also had to take into account the fact that the patient’s spine may have been damaged during his fall and therefore did not want to move him unnecessarily.

“They went about immediately stabilising him. However, realising that a high angle rescue system would be necessary to bring the patient down to ground level they decided to call for the urgent assistance of Netcare 911’s rescue team, Rescue 2, to assist in the medical evacuation,” relates Paul.

The rescue officer was on-scene within minutes and safely secured the injured man who had been placed in a specialised rescue stretcher, the Stokes basket. The Netcare 911 team called on the assistance of on-site construction personnel and a construction crane was used to take the man safely down to the waiting ambulance.

“They attached the Stokes basket to the crane cable and carefully lowered the patient and accompanying rescue officer to the ground. The injured man was immediately transported to hospital in a stable condition under the care of an advanced life support paramedic,” concluded Paul.

The Pavilion Shopping Centre management said they were not aware of the incident. Updates to follow.