Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Man killed while cutting trees in Chatham, New York after the hydraulic system supporting the boom lift failed




Posted: Aug 18, 2015

CHATHAM, N.Y. (AP) - 


State police say a 50-year-old man has been killed in an accident that occurred while he was using a bucket lift to cut tree limbs along an upstate New York road.

Troopers say Robert Fournier of Chatham had been contracted by the Columbia County town of Chatham to remove trees and limbs from the shoulders of Howe Road, 25 miles southeast of Albany.

Police say their preliminary investigation indicates Fournier was in a bucket about 30 feet in the air when the hydraulic system supporting the boom apparently failed, causing the buck to fall. Troopers say Fournier fell from the bucket and hit the ground.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also investigation the cause of the accident.