Three men have been injured when a crane collapsed at a building in North Sydney.
The three workers – aged 24, 28 and 36 – were inside the crane when it malfunctioned, collapsed and hit a concrete well about 11.30am on Sunday, police said.
The three were attached by safety harnesses, suspended about 60 metres off the ground, when the crane fell, but the 24-year-old managed to extricate himself and climbed to safety on the roof of the Meriton building.
“They were 20 levels up, so it was quite high and they were hanging on the crane because it was in a vertical position,” NSW police Inspt Ron James told the ABC.
James said it was believed the workers were in the process of dismantling the crane when the accident occurred.
Fellow workers used a second crane to lower a metal box to the trapped men, lowering them to the ground.
All three men were taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
Engineers will assess the site and SafeWork NSW will investigate the incident. Authorities grappled with the best way to dismantle the dangling crane piece by piece.
“It is a very, very dangerous process and needs to be analysed very carefully,” CFMEU union secretary Brain Park told Fairfax Media.
