As someone else has PMd me to ask about what is wrong with the cherry picker I'll make a couple of points.
1. You should always put spreader plates onto a relatively flat surface where there is no possibility of causing damage or of the plate moving, The furthest away spreader plate in the photo below straddles a concrete edging and can possibly damage the edging and/or slip, so it isn't right
2. Having spreader plates on different density of surfaces may result in the plates on the softer surface digging in if the earth compacts. You always try to get the feet on a level, relatively dense surface if possible.
3. The OP seems incapable of understanding that moving something weighing 1 tonne is going to potentially damage grass and may become bogged down in or after wet weather. That means in order to avoid damage it is always safer to stick to moving on or working from paved areas. In the instance below this was perfectly feasible had a bit of thought been given to the problem:
As far as I can see the MEWP could have been positioned nearer to the camera or further away from it where the tarmacced area looks to be wide enough to accommodate the legs. It is always best to avoid moving heavy equipment across soft ground, but if that isn't possible it may be necessary to lay some form of protective sheet on the ground both to protect the ground (especially if grassed) and to avoid any possibility of it sinking in and potentially overturn. Had the OP carried out a simple risk assessment before starting the task (which is what
every tradesman should do) this would have been obvious
4. The reason it is necessary to have some form of demarkation of the working area of a MEWP is not only to prevent someone walking into the MEWP when it is in use, but is also to ensure that if anything is dropped from the MEWP then it won't hit a pedestrian. When used in the vicinity of a public highway. It is also necessary to ensure that the rearwards extending boom arm of the MEWP cannot swing out into the traffic, either pedestrian or vehicular
Let's not forget the other bit about ensuring that all heavy items, e.g. tools, are fitted with a lanyard which is clipped either to the basket or the operative (my work pants certainly all have lanyard attachment d-rings) - saves you dropping your shiny tool and damaging it, or worse the head of anyone below it
5. The comment about harnesses comes from the fact that every year people are killed in cherry pickers because they weren't wearing a harness. The video below shows why harnesses are a necessary precaution (skip to about 0:38):
Without harnesses those two guys would have been seriously injured, or even killed.
6. But the thing about harnesses is that they only work if you also have a rescue plan, or in other words a way to be released from hanging around on the harness. That's why you should never work alone on a cherry picker. If you end up getting thrown out of a basket and dangling in your harness you still need someone to get you down - and quickly. Hang there for 20 minutes and it might require an amputation to save your life. So, without a harness, the OP has certainly not got a rescue plan
7. Don't think that a fall from 10 to 15ft can kill you? Think again (and if you don't believe it go look on the RoSPA or HSE web sites). Whilst most falls from lower heights aren't fatal, a head injury is always serious. That's why the HSE now insist on the use of a specific type of hard hat with additional internal padding and a chin strap for working at height (like the hellishly expensive Petzl hard hats sported by many scaffies nowadays - my own is a Centurion, and a bit cheaper). I can testify to the fact that one of those has certainly saved me from serious head injury in the past. Of course it goes without saying that if you are the "spotter" at the bottom you have not only got to keep an eye out for hazards, and watch out for your mate, but also ptobably more than anyone in the vicinity, you need to wear a hard hat, too!
But the worst thing is that at least some of this is on the warning sticker attached to the machine and which the OP has singly ignored. Used correctly by trained personnel these machines are little more hazardous than using a step ladder (in fact less going by the accident statistics), but used badly or in ignorant, untrained hands they have the potential to cause a lot of damage and injury