Chicago Fire Department crews work the scene of a construction accident at Elm and State streets. (Tom Palmer, Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Police: Worker, 45, dies after construction accident when he was pinned by a crane
Chicago Fire Department Chief Michael Fox said the victim was unresponsive when he was found pinned by part of the crane.
The man was about six floors, or 60 feet, above ground and was working inside a tall crane involved in the construction of a high-rise residential building at 4 E. Elm St. The man was leaning his body into a shaft where a cage or “elevator’’ was descending, pinning him, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
The crane is a “tall tower" with a crossbeam on its top and a cage or elevator that goes up and down around the outside of it, in order to carry materials and workers, said Langford.
Other workers were able to free the man before additional emergency crews arrived and he was placed onto a stretcher and strapped to a basket and lowered to street level by Tower Ladder No. 10, said Langford.
The worker was placed into an ambulance and taken in critical condition with injures to his upper body to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he later died.
“The fire department is trained to make this type of rescue," Langford said. “In this case the man’s injuries were traumatic,'' Langford said."There was little that could be done.’’
Before he was moved off the crane, the victim was seen about halfway up a construction crane tower, looking unconscious as workers performed CPR while waiting for other rescuers.
A ladder truck raised its bucket and loaded the victim onto the stretcher, lowering him to street level and into the hands of crews and into a waiting ambulance.
Chicago Fire Department crews remained on the scene and traffic was rerouted around that intersection, police said.
Officials with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration which investigates workplace accidents could not be immediately reached for comment.