Abstract: Employee #1, a senior arborist, and a coworker were trimming branches from an oak tree. He was working from the basket of an aerial lift at a height of approximately 50 feet above the ground. He made a cut on a large branch and was almost finished with the cut when the branch fell and became hung up in the tree. He then tied a 1-inch rope to the branch and secured the other end to the basket of the aerial lift. He used the hydraulics of the areal lift to put tension on the line to pull the fallen branch away from the tree. When the branch broke free from the tree, the aerial lift began swinging back and forth. This swinging action projected him out of the basket, and he fell 50 approximately feet to the ground. He suffered a fracture and was killed. Further investigation revealed that the employee was not wearing PPE at the time of the accident. A body belt was found on the driver's seat of his work truck, and a lanyard was found stored in the basket of the aerial lift.