10 EMERGENCY RESPONSE

BEFORE WORK STARTS

Site emergency number and how to get an outside line.
Muster point and wind / spill alternatives if applicable.
First aid location and attendant.
How to shut down or land the crane in an emergency.
Rescue for fall arrest if anyone is tied off.
Tower high-angle rescue: which fire department, how to summon them, where the written plan lives.
After-hours contact for the supervisor / employer.

First aid on a host site is the host’s. First aid on a workplace the employer controls is the employer’s assessment under Part 3 Division 4. GOSPEL-POL-025. Drills are recorded where the employer controls that workplace. GOSPEL-FRM-034.

EMERGENCY DRILL — GOSPEL-FRM-034 →

GOSPEL-POL-025 — FIRST AID →

SWP — SITE EMERGENCY

01
STOP THE LIFT
If a crane is in operation, bring the load to a safe condition if it can be done immediately. If not, stop and protect people first.
02
CALL IT
Use the site method. Say what, where, how many, what hazards. Do not assume someone else called.
03
ACCOUNT FOR THE CREW
Muster. Names. Who is missing. Tell incident command.
04
DO NOT BECOME THE SECOND EVENT
Stay out of rescue you are not equipped for. Power lines, structural collapse and confined space are specialist work.
05
NOTIFY THE SUPERVISOR
As soon as people are accounted for. The supervisor notifies the client, the families the law requires, and the regulator.

POWER LINE CONTACT

Stay on the crane unless it is on fire or you are being shocked. Do not let anyone approach — 10 m, call 911. Downed transmission or manhole: 33 m. Call BC Hydro. If you must get off, jump clear with feet together and shuffle away. This is briefed on any site with overhead lines — not discovered during the contact.

DOWNED, DAMAGED, OR CONTACT. STAY BACK. CALL 911.

CONDITION	METRES	FEET
Fallen line or equipment contact — BC Hydro 3 keys	10	33
Downed transmission or manhole — BC Hydro overhead-system	33	108

CRANE AND RIGGING EMERGENCIES

Crane incident

Stop. People first. Land or hold only if it does not create a second event. Notify the site and the employer. Hold the scene. GOSPEL-SWP-024.

Crane overturn

Do not jump toward the fall. Get people back. First aid. Utility and emergency services if lines or fuel are involved. Do not right the crane as a hero move.

Dropped load

Stop. Clear the zone. First aid. Do not rush in to look. Secure if it can be done without entering an unstable pile. Report as an incident.

Rigging failure

Stop. Isolate the failed gear — tag it, get it off the pile. Check people. Re-rig only with serviceable gear and a reset brief.

Serious injury

Make it safe. First aid. Emergency services. Do not move the person unless they are in immediate danger. Notify the supervisor immediately.

Electrical / powerline contact

Stay on the crane unless fire or shock. Nobody approaches. Call the utility. Jump clear, feet together, shuffle away only if you must get off. Brief this before the lift.

Fire

Small and trained: extinguisher in the cab. Otherwise get off, keep people back, call the site emergency number. Fuel and hydraulics are not a trash-fire.

Severe weather

Land the load. Manufacturer shutdown. People off the machine. Thunder: stop, shelter 30 minutes after the last rumble. Do not count to 30. Strike: 14.16.1. GOSPEL-SWP-023.

Equipment failure

Stop. Crane down if it affects lifting. Report the defect. Do not restart to see if it does it again.

Emergency shutdown

Load landed if possible. Controls isolated. Access secured. Follow the manufacturer for this machine.

Worker rescue

Fall arrest rescue is part of the plan before anyone ties off. Suspension trauma is on the clock. Do not improvise a crane-as-rescue unless that operation is permitted and planned. A tower operator in the cab or on the tower is THARRP — fire-department rope rescue, not a site rappel.

THARRP — TOWER HIGH-ANGLE RESCUE

The Technical High Angle Rope Rescue Program is BCCSA’s. It trains municipal fire departments to get a worker down from a tower crane. It is not a site rope team. It is not a fall-protection plan. G4.13(3)(a) still requires a risk assessment and written rescue procedures for high-angle work.

Before a tower operator goes up: name the fire department, the summoning method, and where the written plan sits. If nobody can name them, the operator stays on the ground.
The host or prime requests the crane or site survey in the THARRP Portal. Confirm it exists. A tower expected past 60 days on a changing high-rise needs the formal Site Survey & Site Rescue Procedure Review on site — ADM 2.
If the local department is not THARR-funded, they may have mutual aid with one that is. If the workplace is outside a municipal high-angle service area, or the employer is not in a funding classification unit, high-angle rescue must be provided by other acceptable means. The lift does not invent a rescue on the day.
A fire department can refuse service they cannot provide. Funding does not obligate them to work unsafely. Then the employer finds another acceptable means — or the work at height does not start.
THARRP does not approve Part 11 fall-protection plans. Harness rescue stays a different plan. Lone hoist-operator rescue stays a different pack.

BCCSA THARR PROGRAM →

THARRP FAQ →

ADM 2 — FUNDED DEPARTMENTS AND CLASSIFICATION UNITS →

BCCSA LONE HOIST OPERATOR RESCUE →

BCCSA WORKING AT HEIGHTS / FALL RESCUE →