Abstract: At approximately 12:54 p.m. on August 7, 2001, Employee #1, a service mechanic, was working at the company's equipment rental yard. Employee #1 was off-loading a new 15,000-pound aerial boom lift from the bed of a highway trailer to the ground using an EZ Loader Model 12M, installed on an International 4700 medium duty truck backed up to the highway trailer. As the weight of the aerial lift transferred from the highway trailer to the hydraulic dovetail ramp of the EZ Loader, the truck's back springs compressed and the truck moved slightly forward. This movement caused the flip-tail of the EZ Loader's ramp to slip and fall off the back of the highway trailer with the aerial lift on it. This sudden drop caused the aerial lifts 16-ft arm to flex violently, catapulting the unsecured Employee #1 out of the operator's control station in the work platform (bucket). Employee #1 flew to an estimated height of 20 ft to 25 ft, traveling about 30 ft horizontally. Employee #1's head and right shoulder first struck the trailer bed, and then he bounced 3 ft to 4 ft, and crashed to the ground. Employee #1 sustained a serious head trauma (concussion) and was hospitalized.