What are Bucket Trucks?
If you are not familiar with the term “bucket truck,” a bucket truck is a truck with a boom and bucket (also called a cherry picker) attached to it and is often used as a service vehicle in utility businesses such as electric and phone companies. Tree cutters must use bucket trucks to reach the taller branches. Bucket trucks allow utility workers to access high wires.
The bucket part of the truck acts as the platform on which the employee stands; the platform is raised by the driver so the employee can reach and repair problems in high places (or cut trees or put up road signs or billboards). Bucket trucks allow utility and other employees to reach otherwise inaccessible places such as trees, buildings with several stories, utility poles, and billboards. Obviously, a fall from a bucket truck will more often than not be deadly. Bucket truck accidents are a fear many employees must live with every day they go to work.
If you or a loved one has been injured or was killed while working on a bucket truck, an experienced bucket truck accident attorney at The Cochran Firm can help. We have represented victims of bucket truck accidents in which serious personal injury or death occurred. We have fought tirelessly to get victims and families of victims the monetary compensation to which they were entitled.
Bucket Truck Accidents
Types of Bucket Truck Accidents
Bucket trucks must be well-designed and well-made in order to be safe. The men and women who use these trucks must be trained thoroughly on correct truck operation and must take all safety precautions necessary to ensure no one gets hurt while using the bucket truck. But as with all motor vehicles, accidents are going to happen; mishaps will occur. There are three common types of bucket truck accidents:
- Overturns
- Power failure
- Electrocutions
Because of the high center of gravity on bucket trucks, overturns can occur. The operators of the bucket trucks must be careful to not put too much weight in the boom of the truck and not to park the truck on a steep surface.
If the hydraulic system of a bucket truck fails, disaster can occur. Safety precautions must be taken and maintenance must be performed regularly to ensure bucket truck power failures do not occur.
Electrocutions can occur when people in the bucket come in contact with live power lines and do not follow proper safety precautions. Tree cutters, for example, are not electricians and may not be fully educated about the danger of cutting trees close to power lines. It is imperative that bucket truck operators be highly trained in this very dangerous piece of machinery.
Aggressive, committed and gifted bucket truck accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm are now taking bucket truck accident cases. With offices nationwide, you can surely find an office near you. Please contact The Cochran Firm today to schedule a confidential, no-cost consultation so we may hear the details of your accident and see how we can help you recover the compensation you need and deserve.
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