A worker died after getting trapped in a lift while working on a sign in a Palm Harbor plaza.
When emergency crews showed up to the Park Avenue Plaza in Palm Harbor Wednesday morning, they found the worker trapped. He was pinned between the bucket on a truck lift and the sign he was there to repair next to Glory Days Grill.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said the victim identified as 58-year-old Robert Tanner leaned on to the control panel, causing the boom to go up. That’s when Tanner got stuck between the bucket and the metal overhang of the sign. His co-worker on the ground tried to reverse the boom, but couldn’t override it in time.
“This is obviously a freak accident,” said Palm Harbor Fire Rescue District Chief Scott Sanford.
Palm Harbor Fire Rescue spent more than 20 minutes trying to free Taner from the bucket.
“At this point the call is under investigation, but we were able to extricate him from the sign,” said Sanford.
Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Breaking: Worker killed after getting trapped in lift while working on this sign in Palm Harbor plaza. pic.twitter.com/DgoWGyWj2u
— Erik Waxler (@erikwaxler) August 9, 2017
After authorities left we saw the owner of Accent Neon and Sign in the bucket working on the control panel, trying to see what may have went wrong.
He told me he didn’t have anything to say, except he lost a friend.
An investigation is underway as to exactly what happened.
