POLICE in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates were quick to respond when a call went through that a window cleaner was stuck 10 floors in the air after his platform malfunctioned.

They showed how modern technology could be put to good use fast, and sent up a drone to help rescue the worker.

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The Asian worker was cleaning the windows on the 10^th story of a tower block on Sheikh Rashed bin Saeed Al Maktoum Road on Tuesday, when he noticed something was wrong with the electric motor-driven platform he was standing on. Fearing the scaffold could collapse, he clung to one of the windows and called for help.

Emergency crews immediately called police as they tried to get the cleaner down. When the police arrived, they cordoned off the area just in case part of the platform fell, and brought in a drone that belonged to the Abu Dhabi Police Security Media.

The device was flown to where the man was, and using its audio and video capabilities, experts were able to convince the worker to calm down so he could be instructed on what to do.

Technicians on the ground were able to see the problem with the scaffold using the drone's cameras and audio device, and spoke to the man about to fix it.

He was able to get down safely after a few minutes.

The worker was taken for a medical check-up, but otherwise was fine, despite experiencing a little shock because of the experience.

After the safe rescue, Abu Dhabi Police called on maintenance companies to perform regular inspections and maintenance on their window-cleaning equipment.

Drones are being increasingly use by UAE cities for various services, including traffic monitoring and crime prevention. The emirates has even launched a competition for the best ideas by which drones could be used for practical purposes.

The winner of the 1 million UAE dirham (about US$272,000) grand prize will be announced on December 14.