the weekend when he slipped a quarter of the way down the British Airways building on Front Street.

Besides a nasty fright, Mr. Frank Franco suffered cuts to his head and face.

He was kept in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for observation.

Mr. Franco's boss, painting contractor Mr. William Croft, said his employee could have been killed had he not heeded his advice to wear a rope harness.

"I went and told him to put a rope around his waist when we started painting and he did -- otherwise he would be dead,'' Mr. Croft said.

Mr. Croft's son, Wayne, said: "I was painting down the other end and my father called me and said, `Frank's hanging'. He was hanging from a rope. He must have slipped.'' An ambulance and the Fire Service attended. With the use of a ladder, they helped lower a shaken and bleeding Mr. Franco, who was still dangling from the rope, to the ground.