More Scaffold Incidents For Window Cleaners USA Wide

Four men injured when scaffold's cables become tangled outside 10th floor of Federal Building in Cleveland, Ohio — Four men were injured Thursday while working on a scaffold outside the 10th floor of the A.J. Celebrezze Federal Building. The men were on the scaffold at about 6:45 p.m. when winds picked up and heavy rain poured down. The men tried to lower the scaffold, but the cables got tangled, said Cleveland Fire Department spokesman Larry Gray. The wind battered the scaffold, banging the men against the building. The scaffold careened, so one end reached the eighth floor with the other on the 10th. A passerby called 9-1-1. Firefighters broke out a window on the 10th floor of the 32-story tower and pulled three men in. A fourth man was also on the scaffold, but somehow made it to the ground before the fire department arrived, Gray said. He suffered lacerations on his head. The men complained of head and back pains. They were taken to MetroHealth Medical Center, where their conditions are unknown. Two of the men were taken by the fire department rescue squad and the other two by EMS.

Window washers caught on scaffold during storm: It was a close call for four workers in Cleveland caught on a scaffold 10 stories above East 9th Street cleaning windows at the Federal Building.  Reports of heavy rain and strong winds tangled cables of the scaffold as they were trying to get down from the 32-story building. One end fell two stories injuring the workers.  Rescuers alerted by a passerby’s 911 call smashed a window and helped the men inside.  They were treated at MetroHealth Center.

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Workers fall off three story building in Boca Raton: Two men are at Delray Medical Center after the scaffold they were on fell three stories. Boca Raton Fire Rescue says the men were pressure cleaning windows at a building in the 4,000 block of Conference Way South. Rescue crews arrived just before 9 a.m. Thursday. Authorities say they were 35-to-40 feet above the ground when a piece of scaffolding hit them causing them to fall. One of the men was knocked unconscious; the other suffered a head injury.

Previously: Two window washers were rushed to the hospital after falling three floors from a building in Boca Raton. Boca Raton Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene at 4800 Conference Way South where two men, both in their 30s, fell approximately 35 to 40 feet to the ground. A piece of scaffolding hit them causing them to fall, according to fire rescue officials. One man was unconscious when crews arrived, and the other suffered a head injury. Both were taken to Delray Medical Center as trauma patients.

Not to be confused with this news release....

Boca Raton Police respond to the scene Thursday where three painters fell from bucket trucks Thursday in an office park south of Yamato Road, West of I-95.

Three painters fall from bucket trucks at Boca Raton office park: Carol Nosek watched the paramedics cut the clothes from a fallen painter. "We looked out the window and saw them on the lawn," said Nosek, who works with Medical Connections, a company in the Boca Raton office park where authorities said three painters fell three stories from bucket trucks onto a lawn Thursday. One painter was taken by Boca Raton Fire Rescue to an area hospital while his colleagues, wearing blue and white coveralls, remained at 4800 Conference Way South after the incident that happened around 9 a.m. 

With so many scaffold accidents, this story was reported yesterday as a window cleaning accident.

Witnesses were never sure of the severity of the men's injuries as paramedics swarmed to the scene. "They cut off his shirt and pants," Nosek said. "He wasn't moving, and we didn't know if was alive or not." Bill Stecklow of Hartzell Construction said the men worked for a company called Color Construction, subcontractors at the building that is in a technology center west of I-95 and south of Yamato Road. "There was something on the ledge that they reached for and they fell," Stecklow said. All three workers were wearing harnesses but it was unclear if they were connected to a bucket, he said. A city inspector arrived after the incident, Stecklow said. Boca Raton Police were at the semi-circular building where two orange and yellow bucket trucks were surrounded by yellow "do not cross" tape in the parking lot. The incident did provide a whiff of anxiety for workers who witnessed the aftermath of the fall. Within minutes, a normal work day seemed to morph into a spectacle of flashing lights and yellow police tape. "We saw an unmarked police car," Nosek said, "and then everyone was there." The men apparently survived the fall, but their conditions were not known.