A man has sustained serious injuries after being crushed by a falling dumbwaiter while working within a Midtown building, as reported by the FDNY. The incident occurred yesterday at around 12:30 p.m. in a social club located at 111 East 54th Street, according to ABC7NY.
First responders were called to the scene for a confined space rescue after the dumbwaiter, which the victim was repairing on street level, plummeted down from the 3rd floor, trapping him beneath its weight. FDNY Deputy Chief Nicholas Corrado explained to Patch that their initial attempt was to lift the dumbwaiter car but had to reconsider when it proved to be unstable.
Firefighters switched strategies, opting to secure the device before breaching the walls to reach the 32-year-old man. "Units responded within in three minutes and they in fact found a dumbwaiter car in a dumbwaiter shaft that had fallen onto a worker who had been working on the street level," FDNY Deputy Chief Nicholas Corrado said, as per ABC7NY. This confined space operation required a significant number of personnel to ensure the security of the dumbwaiter car and to provide access to the injured worker.
The victim remained conscious and alert throughout the ordeal and was eventually transported to the hospital with multiple trauma injuries. Being a confined space, FDNY Deputy Chief Corrado told Patch, “A confined space is a manpower-intensive operation. We had units securing the car itself. We had units breaching walls to get access to the patient. And it was a great operation between our ladder company, our engine companies, our rescue company and our EMS personnel as well.” The exact weight of the dumbwaiter has not been disclosed.
The Department of Buildings is now investigating how the accident occurred. As inquiries continue, the findings will likely shed light on whether there was any lapse in safety measures that could have prevented this accident.
