08.04.2016
Another tree worker fatality
A young tree worker was catapulted out of a platform yesterday, falling around 16 metres to his death in Leominster, Massachusetts
The man, Nicholas Kallio, 26, was working for Affordable landscaping and tree service and had just cut the top of a pine tree that had been stripped of its side limbs. The section came back on him, striking the platform of the bucket truck as it went down. The impact caused a catapult effect which threw the man from the platform. He was still alive when work colleagues reached him on the ground, but died shortly after arriving at hospital.
The platform, a well used Versalift bucket truck, was not seriously damaged in the incident . Given what happened it looks as though the man was not wearing a harness or lanyard.
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The bucket truck stowed following the incident
The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health issued a statement saying that Kallio was the 11th worker killed on the job this year in the state, and the fifth to die from a fall.
Sherm
Surely the money spent for a big sign on the truck body could have been spent first for a fall arrest harness and lanyard. Our work is extremely dangerous and danger must be cross-checked or encountered proactively by having adequate safety devices and equipment for all worker positions.