http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-people-rescued-after-hanging-tulsa-fair-sky-ride-n426366
The second person was recovered, rather than rescued.
Make sure you train for suspension trauma.
Jen
Jen makes a good
point, I'd like to take it further.
It's not so much that you're training
for Suspension Pathology, you're training to avoid it.
If you don't have a rescue plan in place, that is regularly practiced by all parties involved- then you don't have a rescue plan. "
Call 911" is not sufficient, usually under the law. If those workers were up there for half an hour, I'm not surpised only one was rescued. Fall protection harnesses are great! But they need relief steps installed to avoid suspension pathology. Tower/Rope Access harnesses are indeed designed for long term suspension
work, but if you're unconscious and aren't moving around, you're still dead. Even when you're (sort of) young, healthy and trained as I am- harness work is no joke. It's
not comfortable, it's
not easy, and it's
not glamorous. Just because a harness manufacturer says a harness will safely hold a 300lb individual, do you think it's a good idea to
send a guy up who's so fat and out of shape he bleeds gravy when he gets cut? I don't.
The lack of circulation from being suspended in a fall protection harness, even if it doesn't kill you in the air, can still get you when back on the
ground. I've seen procedures change over the last several years regarding what to do with a conscious casualty on the
ground.
Lay them down? Sit them in a chair? Let them walk off? If your blood in your extremities is toxic and it circulates back to your heart too soon, what happens? Training and practice will keep you up to speed on this sort of thing.
I'll bet money that regular inspections of all components involved in this activity doesn't happen.
It will be a bleeding shame if these individuals died and were injured due to "we've always done it this way" and/or "it'll be fine, just hurry up and get to work".
