What I've heard is the survivor hugged the scaffold platform which slowed his descent like a sail.

Yes, Eric, I've heard that too.  Let's see, 800 pound scaffold, with 100 pounds of equipment and 300 pounds of humans, total over half a ton, vs. air resistance on warmish day as against 4' x 20' ? openwork aluminum deck, and allowing for slight holding action of lines going through pulleys....

 

Well ... OK.   I eat the body and blood of Christ at Communion, so I guess I can imagine that.

 

But what I meant to express curiousity about is how this particular acccident actually occurred.  It has been demonstrated that it is possible for a New Haven window washer to walk off straight off the end of a hanging scaffold, but how two guys lift an 800? pound scaffold over the side of the building, and it holds, and then they step on, and their additional 300 pounds of weight sends it down ... well I just don't get that.

 

Speaking of equipment, the building in question is all glass.  How many pounds of windex do you have to load to clean even one 20' x 400' drop on such a structure?  Or do they have down-hoses from the roof?  

 

Christopher

These window washing rigs are mounted (and moved around the roof) on davits (which are probably on tracks of some sort), so the guys don't throw the thing over the parapet themselves and jump on. What we don't seem to know just yet is where the rig was in relation to the roof (and thin air), where the guys were in relation to the rig, and what the state of repair of the rig was immediately before this all happened.  Which is why it would be good to know the survivor's story.  One of the guys I'm working with claims the survivor landed on a pile of cable that fell ahead of him, and that somehow the cable broke his fall; I would think that a pile of steel cable would be about as fluffy as the water under the Golden Gate bridge, though.

Whyncha ask yer reporter friends covering the story what the hell happened?  And ask them to find out which newspaper is used to clean the building, too.  I have seen guys use those "AM" and "Metro" freebie papers for wiping excess sealant on, which strikes me as the best and highest use.

Ralph