A worker helping to install roadside signs in North Dunedin received back and neck injuries when he slipped and fell 3m down a steep bank beside Leith
Valley Rd about 8pm tonight.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand rescuers used a Stokes rescue basket to lift the man back to safety in a "very successful" operation.
"He's in ED [Dunedin Hospital Emergency Department] that's a win for us," Station Officer Ant O'Neill, of Willowbank Fire Station, said.
The worker, believed to have been in his 50s, fell down a "sheer drop", but fortunately was caught up in some under growth after landing.
"He was caught up in the scrub and the trees."
This prevented him from falling or rolling about 7m further down a "very steep embankment slope into the Water of Leith, Mr O'Neill said.
"He's got some possible back and neck injuries."
Eight firefighters, four from Willowbank and four from the Dunedin Central Station rescued him, four helping to move him into a Stokes rescue basket, in his "precarious" position, and four lifting him up to the road.
St John staff treated the man before transporting him to hospital.
