IBEW Local 48 electrician Bryan Barker received an American Red Cross Lifesaving award for his actions on a job site after a fellow worker fell 20 feet and suffered a life-threatening cut on his arm.
On Aug. 24, 2023, Barker was working for electric contractor Cochran Inc. on the remodel of the historic Troy Laundry Building when a carpenter who wasn’t clipped into the fall protection system fell 20 feet through a ladder opening onto the plywood subfloor below. The carpenter was carrying several tools, including an open blade tool that slashed his arm when he fell.
“Emergency situations usually have one thing in common: A crowd of people standing, staring at a victim, wondering who should act and trying to remember what to do,” American Red Cross Cascades Region CEO Priscilla Fuentes said when giving Barker the award on March 11.
A coworker closer to the carpenter was frozen in shock in the seconds after the fall, until Barker — realizing that the motionless shape that had fallen to the ground wasn’t a sack of material but a person — ran to the injured man and told his coworker to call 911.
The man had a concussion and broken collarbone, but as Barker ran over, it was immediately clear that significant bleeding was the biggest concern, he told the Labor Press.He applied pressure to the wound. Other workers helped by bringing clean rags so Barker could maintain pressure to stop blood loss and by keeping the area around the injured worker clear until paramedics arrived. Some coworkers wanted to apply a tourniquet or move the man to more stable ground. But no one argued as Barker took charge, putting to use decades of first aid knowledge maintained since he was a boy scout.
The worker tried to get up when he regained consciousness after the fall, but Barker was able to keep him from moving.
“As soon as I asked him to just hang tight and let him know that help was coming, he stopped any kind of struggle and just answered questions as I asked him about his family, car, work, home, etc.,” Barker said in an employee newsletter from Cochran, his employer.
Barker kept his hands clamped tightly over the wound until Portland Fire and Rescue arrived with a ladder truck and transported the man to the hospital.
The injured worker was able to go home that night after getting nearly 40 stitches in his arm and more on his head.
Barker recalled the lifesaving efforts as “a chaotically smooth operation.” Everyone followed instructions and played their part, resulting in the best possible outcome: The carpenter recovered from his injuries and was able to return to work six weeks later.
