Dress in your hunting clothes and practice setting the stand. Be sure to wear your hunting boots. The platform has about half as much room when you're wearing insulated boots as when you're wearing sneakers. Then try setting it higher and getting used to it. Everyone who knows Ed knows he's a fanatic about stand safety.
Chances are a weld broke, and when one goes they'll all go.
It's a chain reaction. Another good piece of advice is to always wear a safety harness. Wear it all the time and keep it tight. By the way, Ed's company doesn't sell safety harnesses. Don't spray them with a lubricant like WD-40 because it'll give off an unnatural odor.