A long and delicate rescue operation in Louisville succeeded in extricating an injured demolition worker who had fallen into what rescuers described as a gap in what appeared to be a solid outer level of a collapsed building, where he had been trapped by debris for eight hours.
The crash happened on LouMed, a site developed for medical-related organizations and companies.
The identity of the man, who fell from about 10 feet to 12 feet around 11:40 a.m. Nov. 14, has not been released. He remained conscious and communicated with his rescuers in Spanish, according to media reports.
The employer and other members of the project team involved in the accident have not yet been revealed or reported by local media.
After the fall, the worker was “completely buried, not just trapped, in all kinds of debris, dirt and rock,” said Louisville Fire Department Chief Brian O’Neill.
The rescue culminated in the dark, when the victim was removed and loaded into an ambulance. News photographers captured different parts of the effort, including a vacuum being used to remove dirt and small rocks.
The long rescue hours were necessary to carefully remove the material from around the victim without further endangering him.
Other Kentucky demolition workers haven’t been so lucky, with records showing multiple fatal accidents in recent years.
In October 2023 two workers, Billy Ra Daniels and Alvin Nees, died when an 11-story coal lift collapsed at the Martin Mine Preparation Plant in Martin County, according to OSHA penalty records proposed by the Kentucky Bureau of Education and Labor. Daniels and Nees had been performing demolition operations for a site preparation contractor, Skeens Enterprises, when the the drink collapsed, trapping them under the rubble.
Last April, state officials proposed $31,000 in safety penalties against employer Skeens Enterprises, all of which the company is contesting, OSHA records show.
A longer view of the job site in Louisville, Kentucky, where first responders were able to save a demolition worker who they say fell and became trapped in a gap. Photo: Timothy D. Easley/AP In May 2022, construction worker Domingo Cruz, 44, was doing demolition work on a corrugated metal roof in Walnut Grove, Ky., when he fell through a skylight onto the concrete floor 18 feet below. He later died from his injuries.
Cruz was removing components from the roof when he stepped back and stepped on the skylight, which broke under his weight. From $28,000 in proposed fines against his employer, Fabco Inc. by state occupational safety officials, only $7,000 has been informally settled, according to OSHA records. The company could not immediately be reached for comment on the rest of the proposed penalties.
The accident was the subject of a extensive research report by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
