UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

At 12:00 a.m. on January 7, 2022, Employee #1 was working out of a van equipped with a bucket lift taking down Christmas decorations in the roadway. The Christm as decorations were approximately 20 feet above ground level. Employee #1 and cr ew were near the end of the task and had three more wreaths to take down prior t o the incident. Employee #1 was wearing a harness and lanyard riding in the buck et of the lift, while the supervisor drove the van and another coworker was ridi ng in the passenger seat. Another set of coworkers followed behind the van in a truck to retrieve the removed decorations. Once the crew made the turn onto Dear born Street, some coworkers noticed the elevated bucket on the van began to rise and almost hit a power line. The supervisor and driver of the van did not notic e the bucket had elevated. As the van passed under a tree, Employee #1 ducked do wn barely missing the branch, but the branch came in contact with the bucket. Th e rear portion of the bucket shattered, and Employee #1 fell out of the bucket o nto the grass on the shoulder of the road. The injuries were blunt force trauma to torso, head, and neck. Employee #1 was killed.