19.07.2022

Tree trimmer fatality

A man died yesterday in Youngstown, Ohio, while cutting trees in the backyard of a home in the city.

The man, Robert Tinkham, 65, died in hospital soon after falling from the platform of a Biljax 36.32 telescopic trailer mounted lift. Photographs we have seen clearly indicate that he had tied a large section of tree to the platform rail, and then cut it free from the tree. It apparently broke away from the tree trunk before he had finished his cut.

The dynamic loading on the basket when the rope tightened, caused the tilt mechanism to fail, tipping him out of the basket. We can only assume that he was not wearing harness anchored to the platform. He fell around 11 metres or so to the ground.