A major training exercise by the London Ambulance Service took place at CALA Homes’ Millbrook Park development in Mill Hill this week. The simulation was designed to test the initial joint response of construction staff and Emergency First Response teams as they reconstructed an emergency rescue from a 40 metre high tower crane.

As part of the exercise a member of the Emergency First Response team volunteered as the crane driver, whilst another colleague scaled the crane to bring the driver safely back down to ground level.

Under UK construction regulations, construction companies are required to take all the necessary safety measures, including appointing rescue teams for most tower crane sites, notifying emergency services of tower locations and providing the relevant kits and risk assessments should an emergency situation arise.

CALA Homes’ Director of Construction, Darren Dockerill commented, “We often train with emergency services at many of our developments, as this type of training is useful for our own staff and it gives the local emergency rescue teams as much preparation as possible in the unlikely event of an incident. Tower cranes can be quite a challenge in an emergency, so it’s essential that we have ensured all the necessary precautions and measures are in place.”

Marc Rainey, Head of CBRN and HART, London Ambulance Service, added: “CALA Homes is a company that shares our commitment to health and safety and we would like to thank them for hosting the crane rescue. Our aim is to protect and save lives and reduce any harm by continually reviewing how we work together with developers and their site teams.

“This exercise was a great opportunity to train in a different scenario. It is not often we get the chance to carry out a rescue simulation in such authentic conditions, and the greater our variety of training, the more improved our skills will be.”

CALA Homes’ Millbrook Park development will offer 92 luxury homes on the former Inglis Barracks site in Mill Hill. The sales centre and showhomes are due to open in June 2015. For further information, visit www.cala.co.uk.