A BUILDER who suffered a head injury when he fell on a construction site in Worcester had to be lowered out of a window on a stretcher during a painstaking rescue operation.

The accident happened on the site of a new house under construction in Bath Road, close to the Norton Road junction, at around 2.56pm today.

The operation involved the man being lowered out of a first floor window on a rigid stretcher.

Part of Bath Road had to be coned off while he was lowered down, causing tailbacks in the city.

The man from St John's who is the site manager for the project fell onto rafters in the attic and struck his head.

However, he was conscious and talking when he left the property by ambulance to be taken to a waiting air ambulance a short distance away.

The air ambulance in turn took him to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for further assessment and treatment.

Gavin Hunt, a family friend of the man told the Worcester News: “I hope he makes a speedy recovery. He banged his head and has been taken to the QE in Birmingham.

"Because it was a hit on the head, that’s the place for him to go."

Two fire engines from Worcester attended. A rope was brought from Malvern and a technical rescue team arrived from Droitwich.

The casualty was lowered out of a first floor window on a rigid stretcher.

A spokesman for the ambulance service said they had received a call saying someone had fallen from a height on a construction site.

One side of Bath Road was coned off and a police officer directed traffic while the casualty was removed.

Rob Allen, station commander at Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, said: “We have worked with the ambulance service to get him from the place he had fallen and out through a first floor window to a waiting ambulance team.

"We used a line system from the specialist team from Malvern. They set up the system and lowered him out of the window on a first floor stretcher.”

The incident caused some tailbacks in Worcester but congestion began to ease at around 4.20pm when the cones were removed.

Two fire engines, three ambulances and three police cars were on the scene as well as other associated emergency vehicles at the height of the incident.