OSHA investigates after man falls 40 feet while working on billboard

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The family of the worker who was killed when part of a billboard collapsed in Orange County is now questioning the safety of his equipment.

Keith Bramblett, 29, died after he plummeted 40 feet while installing a billboard on Lake Underhill Road near State Road 408 Wednesday.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials arrived Thursday to investigate.

Crime scene technicians took pictures of the scene where Bramblett fell to his death, before OSHA could do its investigation into any possible violations.

Someone alerted deputies, but both of the cranes had already been moved. Deputies said the workers were moving equipment, machines, and possibly evidence around the work site.

Officials said around 3:45 p.m. a construction crew was installing a large billboard and Bramblett was in a bucket inside a cage suspended from a crane about 40 feet above the ground. He was working on a large metal pole that holds up the billboard.

Officers said the pole shifted, hit the bucket and caused Bramblett to fall about 40 feet.

"We just knew with the way that basket was shaking and the fact that 90 seconds earlier we saw a man there that this was serious," said witness Benjamin Poole.

Witnesses said Bramblett they saw the man fall out of the cage before the billboard fell.

"The metal cage he was in was swinging violently and then came off the hook.  It actually crashed down onto the new billboard," Poole said.  "There’s no way he had a harness on."

Frank Herrington went to the site Thursday where his nephew lost his life, and where a torn up billboard and mangled bucket, which is no longer attached to a crane, sat on the ground.

Bramblett’s Facebook page was flooded with comments from those who knew him.

Reports said witnesses saw the basket detached from the crane and hit the billboard on the ground.

Bramblett was then thrown from the basket, reports said.

His aunt and uncle said they have serious concerns about the safety of the equipment he was using.

“It’s a senseless accident that did not need to happen,” Lisa Harrington said.

OSHA arrived before noon to investigate the site.

A spokesperson would only say the accident is under investigation.

WFTV