Two men died in Oklahoma incidents involving unsafe uses of lifting equipment.

Unsecured forklift tines on a flatbed truck trailer fell onto state highway 62, according to an Oklahoma City police report. A trailing minivan hit one tine, passed without damage over cable barriers and, subsequently, rolled several times.

The van driver, Melvin Ray Ake, 68, of Newcastle, Oklahoma, was ejected from the vehicle and died at an Oklahoma City hospital.

Police say Richard Chausse of heavy equipment contractor BJ's Construction Inc of Blanchard, Oklahoma was driving the Ford truck southbound on the highway near the intersection with Southwest 74th Street on 9 June.

In the other case, Douglas Ray Ramey, 33, of Tulsa suffered fatal injuries while working underneath a hydraulic scissor lift at Superior Linen Service Inc.

A Tulsa police report says Ramey was working below the lift, which Tulsa-based Superior Linen uses to load trucks. Ramey disconnected an improperly working hydraulic hose, and the lift began falling and crushed him. Ramey was pronounced dead at the scene.

A locking mechanism to securely hold the lift was not in use, according to police.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration is pursuing an investigation of the 12 June workplace incident.

Family-owned and -operated Superior Linen employs about 300 and supplies hospitality and healthcare linen services in Oklahoma, western Arkansas, southern Missouri and southern Kansas.