A man died last week after falling from a truck mounted platform/bucket truck, while trimming trees in Colonial Heights, Virginia – South of Richmond. The man Charles Sloan, 47, was the owner and operator of Tip Top Tree Service and was trimming a large tree at a private residence last Thursday April 4th. He was working at a height of around 15 to 17 metres and seems to have been using the unapproved technique of tying the tree limb to the platform and then cutting it free, thus preventing it falling to the ground by catching it with the lift. However, in this case when the rope tightened, the dynamic load broke it, causing a whiplash effect on the boom and platform, catapulting the man out of the platform. Clearly he was not wearing an attached harness at the time.
Sloan was declared dead at the scene. OSHA was notified and has launched an investigation.