Surgeons freed a man recently from the grip of a rubber-tracked placer after he fell into the machine’s hopper on a jobsite in Athens, Georgia.
At 6:45 a.m. August 14, according to the Athens-Clarke County Fire Department, emergency services was called to a jobsite on the Athens Bypass near Atlanta Highway where a worker had fallen into the hopper of a concrete placer. The man fell as crews were placing concrete and became entangled in the auger.
Based on photos posted by the Fire Department, the machine appears to be a GOMACO RTP-500 Rubber-Tracked Placer and had its factory barrier in place around the open cab when the photo was taken after the incident.
Athens-Clarke County Fire Department
To save the man, a specialized crew of surgeons, nurses and an anesthesiologist from Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center joined National EMS and worked for two hours to free him. The resulting procedure involved amputating the man’s leg, according to a report by Classic City News.
The Athens-Clarke County Fire Department said no additional information regarding the worker’s condition is currently available. Additionally, no identifying information about the worker has been released.
