10,000-pound beam falls onto worker’s legs in Stearns County

A man was pinned to the top of a scissor lift Friday after a 10,000-pound steel beam fell onto his legs.

According to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, the medical emergency unfolded around 11 a.m. Friday at Waters Church near Sartell. A 32-year-old man from Willmar was working for a contracted company that was doing work on the church, including removing a structural beam from the building.

The beam, weighing approximately 10,000 lbs and 74 feet long, was slowly being lowered using jacks and cribbing, which held each end of the beam.

The man was operating a sky jack scissor lift near the beam and adjusting the cribbing as the beam was being lowered. However, the beam became unstable and fell onto the man’s legs, pinning him to the top of the scissor lift.

Emergency medical crews, along with workers of the contracting crew, were able to free the man from the beam and take him to the hospital.

The severity of his injuries was not stated by the sheriff’s office.