High-Angle Rescues, New York City

摘要

High-angle rescue operations come in many forms. One that occurs often involves workers on the outside of a structure, typically on scaffolding. Post-accident situations typically leave scaffolding severely tilted, hanging to one side, or completely vertical. Workers may be found suspended by their safety lines or hanging onto the scaffold or even the building. They may be injured by falling material, and the anchor may have been compromised. The first critical duty of a first-arriving unit is to secure the victims to prevent them from falling while the rescue progresses. If you can remove a window and reach out (or extend with a pike pole) the snap hook of the rescue rope or life saving rope (LSR) or lower it from the roof to the victim (photo 1), the victim can be instructed to clip it to his harness or rope system. If you attach the rope to the victim's rope, the LSR or rescue rope will slide down his line. Once the LSR/rescue rope is attached to the worker's harness, tension the rope at the roof or window level (photo 2). Anchor the rope to a substantial anchor; use three half hitches or some other reliable method (photo 3).