A construction worker was half buried in concrete but survived thanks to a 90-minute rescue conducted by first responders.
The unidentified employee, working at the 1 Channel Center construction project in South Boston, MA, was checking a concrete form to make sure it was holding when it collapsed, trapping his foot under a form wall and burying him up to his waist in concrete.
Boston fire personnel tackled the difficult task of stabilizing the extremely heavy load of concrete behind the collapsed form wall while protecting the worker. The wall had to be braced to prevent it from collapsing on the man.
EMS crews gave him something for the pain and put an IV in, just in case. He was also given a helmet to protect him from falling debris.
The fire department’s technical rescue teams used special tools to free the worker. The rescue took almost 90 minutes. The worker was conscious for the entire time.
The employee suffered some body soreness and a minor foot injury. He was expected to be able to return to work.
Boston fire teams had rehearsed a construction cave-in rescue similar to this one just days before it happened.
