GOSPEL-POL-015 EMERGENCY RESPONSE

DOCUMENT: GOSPEL-POL-015
REVISION: 01 CURRENT
EFFECTIVE: 2026-09-01
OWNER: GOSPEL Safety
APPROVED BY: GOSPEL
REVIEW: 2027-09-01

BCCSA templates for a construction hoist operator down in the car — ERP, lockout, access options, drill. Sign in on bccsa.ca to download. Fall-arrest rescue is a different pack: BCCSA Working at Heights. Tower-crane high-angle rescue is THARRP — fire departments, not this pack. None of them replace this policy or the site plan.

Before work

Emergency number, muster, first aid, crane shutdown, fall-rescue if anyone is tied off, high-angle rope rescue for a tower operator, after-hours contact this program names.

People first

Make it safe. Get care. Hold the scene. Do not become the second event.

Power line contact

Stay on the crane unless fire or shock forces you off. Nobody approaches. Call the utility. Brief this on any site with overhead lines.

Construction hoist operator

A hoist car is working alone. The site uses a written rescue procedure before the car runs. BCCSA already wrote the templates. Use them. Do not invent a hoist rescue on the day.

Fall arrest

Nobody ties off without a rescue plan that can get them down. BCCSA’s fall-protection rescue guide is the construction template. The crane is not the rescue plan unless that operation is permitted and planned. THARRP does not approve fall-protection plans. Part 11 stays the employer’s.

THARRP — tower high-angle rescue

WorkSafeBC G4.13(3)(a): risk assessment where rescue or evacuation may arise, and written procedures for high-angle work. BCCSA’s Technical High Angle Rope Rescue Program connects construction employers with funded municipal fire departments to write a rope-rescue plan for a tower-crane operator in distress. This program does not run that rescue. The fire department does. A tower operator does not go up until the host or prime can name the plan, the fire department, and how to summon them. If the local department is not THARR-funded, mutual aid or another acceptable means is required — the lift does not invent it. Portal requests: bccsa.ca/tharrp_program.php.

Who requests the survey

The employer at that workplace requests the crane or site survey in the THARRP Portal — WorkSafeBC account number and legal name. On a host site that is usually the prime or the crane owner. The supervisor or the employer at the workplace confirms the survey and the written agreement exist before the lift. A tower on a high-rise expected past 60 days needs the formal Site Survey & Site Rescue Procedure Review on site. ADM 2.