20 tonnes of glass falls on worker

Because of the danger to the injured man, rescuers had to use the jaws of life to prise the glass off him.The man was operating a crane at DMS Glass in Clayton South about 10.18pm when the accident happened.Commander Darren Davies, of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, said part of the crane failed and caused the load to fall, trapping the man by a leg."He actually saw the load coming down," Mr Davies said.

"He tried to run out of the way but it caught his leg.

"But if the majority of his body had been pinned he wouldn't be around today.

After ambulance crews stabilised the man, firefighters had to devise a way to remove the glass from the worker, Mr Davies said.

"We've never had a rescue like that," he said.

"My rescue operators said the glass was so slippery, but as well as the face of the glass being slippery, if we shifted the glass and it broke it would become a very sharp object that could have cut him.

"We were very concerned while rescuing him because if the glass broke and slid, it could have cut off his leg or worse."

The jaws of life were used to lift the glass off the man. Chocks were put underneath it and the man was freed almost an hour later.

"He had several fractures in his leg, lacerations on his other leg and some minor head injuries, but he's very lucky," Mr Davies said.