An employee of the St. Louis Arch was pinned for 30 seconds between the south leg tram and the top of the shaft while working on electrical upgrades yesterday. I bet that hurt. One time we stubbed our town on the south leg of our coffee table and it hurt like hell. Like really hurt and still hurt the next day, probably just like this guy’s injury. The good news for him is that after two days we were fine and we got to limp around at work and make people ask us what happened. Yea! People talked to us!
Frank Mares, deputy park superintendent, said [John Leslie, 55, of Robertsville] was doing electrical upgrades to the south tram system when he was pinned at the top. Mares said Leslie was standing atop a platform mounted on the front tram car while the tram climbed and failed to stop. Mares said the tram was being controlled by a person at a work platform below, but he said it’s unclear whether the accident was the result of mechanical or human error. Mares said Leslie was in radio contact with the person at the platform below.
Leslie (Which is a girl’s name! LOL!) is said to be fine and his injuries were not life threatening. In fact, one visitor to the Arch, who should really think about getting a job instead of visiting monuments during the work day, said they say him walking with assistance from one tram to the other right after being freed.
The Arch is currently undergoing a $3 Million dollar upgrade specifically to the tram system. Wouldn’t it be totally ironic if the new Don’t Smash Employees with the Tram Sensor 3000 was going to be installed tomorrow?
via STLToday