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I'm always cautious about the term 'freak accident' because it implies that nothing could have been done to prevent it.
Philbert
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A LARA father is dead after falling 15m in a freak work-place accident yesterday.
The 45-year-old suffered severe head trauma when he fell from a cherry picker while tree trimming on a private property in St Andrews Drive, Lara.
Police believe a mechanical error caused the machine to malfunction, throwing the man several metres to his death about 4.15pm. Work colleagues performed CPR on the man until paramedics arrived and continued attempts to resuscitate him.
He died at the scene. A neighbour said he heard branches cracking and a hollow thud as the cherry picker crashed to the ground.
"I was over there (in the front yard) and I looked over and the cherry picker was fairly high," he said.
"I turned my back and a few minutes later I heard the saw stop and then I heard it (the cherry picker) come crashing down. It wasn't normal, it was a hollow thud.
"I said 'is there anyone under that' and my son went over and there was.
"There was blood everywhere and a couple of minutes later they (the work colleagues) were trying to perform CPR."
The workers, from a Lara tree trimming business, were close to finishing several days of lopping at the property when the tragedy unfolded.
"They had taken out 20 trees and it's the last one left," the neighbour said yesterday as he cast his eyes over the sole tree sitting among the crashed cherry picker and machinery.
Sheets were placed over a barb-wire fence to cover the man's body, which laid beside the grounded bucket of the cherry picker.
Distraught family and friends gathered and stood in shock in the front yard of a nearby house.
One man stood with his hand covering his mouth for several minutes.
Work colleagues stood with their heads bowed. Others consoled one another with embraces.
WorkSafe inspectors attended the scene last night and will investigate the incident.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
