Fatal Fall - Scaffold Collapse: News Update

Update from yesterdays news..

ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. -- Authorities have identified the window washer who plunged eight stories to his death on Friday afternoon in St. Louis Park. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner says 25-year-old Ryan Shannon of Roseville died of multiple blunt force injuries after falling from the roof of the Knollwood Place Apartments.  His death has been classified as an accident. OSHA has been called in to investigate the accident.

Name of window washer killed in fall is released: ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. (AP) - Authorities have released the name of a window washer who died after falling from the roof of an eight-story apartment building in St. Louis Park. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office says Sunday that 25-year-old Ryan John Shannon of Roseville died Friday afternoon of multiple blunt force injuries. St. Louis Park spokesman Jamie Zwilling said last week Shannon was part of a window washing crew when he fell from the Knollwood Place Apartments, a 151-unit independent senior living building. St. Louis Park police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating.

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Repairmen fall from IMF building: Two window repairmen fell from the International Monetary Fund building in Foggy Bottom on Saturday, but were saved by their safety harnesses. The two adult men fell when the platform they were standing on came loose and they lost their footing at about 11 a.m., according to Pete Piringer, spokesman for D.C. fire and emergency services. They were wearing safety harnesses and came to an "abrupt stop," avoiding injury, Piringer said. The men were working outside the fourth floor of the 11-story building.

Two window repairmen were saved by the safety harnesses after their platform broke while working downtown this morning. Pete Piringer, spokesman for DC Fire and EMS, says units were called to the IMF building in the 1900 block of Pennsylvania Avenue at 11:00 for a technical rescue of two window washers who had fallen. When fire and technical rescue units arrived on scene they found the men had fallen a distance when the anchoring device on their platform came loose. The workers were saved by their safety harnesses, which brought their plunge to an abrupt stop. Piringer says the two men were taken to the hospital for evaluation. They both appear to be unharmed. The men were working on the fourth floor level of the eleven story building when the accident occurred. Crews evacuated a Founding Farmers Restaurant as a precaution while technical crews worked to secure the dangling platform.

Minneapolis Window Cleaner Fatal Fall - Washington D.C. Scaffold Collapse

Window washer dies in fall in St. Louis Park: A window washer was killed Friday afternoon after falling from the roof at the Knollwood Park Apartments in St. Louis Park. The St. Louis Park fire and police departments arrived at the complex, in the 3600 block of Phillips Parkway, at 2:15 p.m. after 911 calls from the scene. A man working as part of a window washing crew fell at least 80 feet from the roof of the eight-story building. No one else was injured. The victim, who worked for an independent contractor, was part of a crew of at least two people, said Jamie Zwilling, a spokesman for the city of St. Louis Park. His name has not been released.

Zwilling said the cause of the accident wasn't clear and would be investigated. Knollwood Place is a 151-unit independent-living senior building. In September 2009, a window washer fell three stories to his death at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. Bryan Prairie of Plymouth had taken that job for the summer while looking for work as a nurse. Six months earlier, in March, Jacob J. Jennings, 20, of Coon Rapids, fell about 30 feet to his death while working as a window washer at an office tower near Interstate 494 and Normandale Boulevard in Bloomington.

St. Louis Park Window Washer Dies in 8-Story Fall: St. Louis Park officials say a window washer was killed on Friday after falling from the roof of an 8-story building. Both the fire and police departments responded to the Knollwood Place Apartments -- a 151-unit independent senior living building located in the 3600 block of Phillips Parkway -- at about 2:15 p.m. Officials sad a man working as part of a window washing crew fell, and an investigation into the accident is under way. City spokesman Jamie Zwilling said the man died on impact. No other injuries were reported.

Window washers rescued in D.C. after platform collapses: Rescue harnesses potentially saved the lives of two window washers in Northwest D.C. on Saturday after their platform collapsed, officials say. Fire authorities say that the platform collapse occurred at about 11 a.m. outside the 4th floor of an 11-story building at the IMF building at 1924 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. A Washington D.C. Fire spokesperson says that the workers fell but were saved by their harnesses. An EMS technical rescue team brought them to safety and they were taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.