Electrician Dies After Falling From Cherry Picker Basket

A 41-year-old male electrician (victim) died after he fell from the basket of an aerial lift truck. The victim and two coworkers were installing electrical wiring for a sign on the side of a highway bridge. The two left most traffic lanes were closed to traffic. The workers arrived at the scene with a pickup truck and a truck equipped with a basket-type work platform attached to a hydraulic boom. After arriving at the site the victim entered the basket, swung it beneath the bridge and raised it up between two of the bridge beams. The victim determined the length of steel pipe needed for the electrical wires and verbally told his coworkers the required length of pipe. At this time the basket was positioned above the closed traffic lanes. While the coworkers cut the pipe, the victim apparently moved the basket to a location above the nearest open traffic lane. A semi-truck approached the site and observed warning cones and signs directing traffic to merge to the right. The driver proceeded toward the work site in the open traffic lane nearest the closed lanes. When the truck neared the workers vehicles, the driver noticed the basket over the traffic lane in which he was driving. Before the driver could slow the truck or safely move to the next lane, the semi-truck struck the cherry basket. The collision caused the victim to be thrown from the basket to the surface of the roadway. The coworkers heard the collision and looked as the victim fell. They used a cell phone to place a call to emergency personnel. Emergency personnel arrived shortly after being notified and pronounced the victim dead at the scene. MN FACE investigators concluded that, in order to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences, the following guidelines should be followed:
all workers and equipment should remain or be kept within the boundaries of established work zones.