As was well documented by local media outlets last Thursday, the two earlier workers were attempting to make renovations to the steeple of the United Methodist Church when they got stuck in their cherry picker, about 120 feet in the air. Thankfully, the two were safely returned to ground level after a prolonged rescue effort.
The incident hit close to home for New Jersey Monthly. Our offices are right next door to the church. The entire staff was ordered out of the building by emergency workers fearful that the cherry picker or the rescuing crane might topple onto our building. For three hours we became part of the large crowd of spectators to this human drama.
You can imagine our surprise this morning when we saw what appeared to be the very same cherry picker rising above our building. Was it operated by the same two workers?
I placed a call to the owner of the masonry outfit performing the work—CDC Masonry Restoration—and was told that last week’s ill-fated twosome had been “reassigned” to another project. Two new workers had been subbed in to continue the restoration project.
We all hope these two are luckier, mechanically, than their colleagues were last week. One afternoon of frantic emergency evacuations, industrial equipment failures and almost comically protracted rescue efforts is more than enough for all of us.