06.12.2022

Platform fatality was accidental

A coroner has ruled that a fatal incident following a fall from an aerial lift was an accident.

In July of this year Robert Tinkham, 65, was trimming trees in the back yard of a house in Youngstown, Ohio. He was working at a height of around 11 metres from the platform of a fully extended Biljax telescopic trailer lift and had tied a tree limb to the platform guardrail, prior to cutting it from the tree. The impact of the falling limb on the platform when the rope became taut, caused the levelling mechanism to fail, tipping him out of the basket.

The ruling from the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office confirmed the details, that were obvious from day one, but never mentioned whether Tinkham had been wearing harness with attached lanyard. It did state that the home owner had heard a noise and looked out to see him lying on the ground. When the emergency services arrived, Tinkham had no pulse and efforts to revive him failed. The coroner has also officially recorded the death as accidental.