Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Worker was crushed to death by a two-ton equipment at Fort Miller Fab3 Corp.'s facility in Greenwich, NY









Worker dies from industrial accident at Fort Miller Co. metal plant

DON LEHMAN dlehman@poststar.com

GREENWICH — A 45-year-old Argyle man died Tuesday morning during an industrial accident at Fort Miller Fab3 Corp.'s facility in Greenwich.


The Washington County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration were investigating the death at the Wilbur Avenue plant, which is a subsidiary of Fort Miller Co. and fabricates metal products for industrial uses. Easton-Greenwich EMS was sent to the plant at 8:54 a.m.


Washington County sheriff's Senior Investigator Tony LeClaire said the man's name was not immediately being released pending notification of next of kin.


LeClaire said the man was hit by a large, several-thousand-pound piece of metal equipment similar to a large cabinet that fell on top of him as it was being worked on.


"Something happened and it shifted and fell on top of him," LeClaire said. "Seven employees there were able to lift it off him."




The man was taken to Saratoga Hospital, where he was pronounced dead later Tuesday. The Sheriff's Office was notified of the fatality by the Saratoga County Coroner's Office Tuesday afternoon and an investigation was ongoing, LeClaire said. Sheriff's officers were conducting additional interviews Wednesday to try to determine how the accident happened, he said.


Sheriff Jeff Murphy said more details will be released as they become available.


A call to the company was not returned Wednesday, a woman who fielded a phone call saying that she did not anticipate there would be any comment by the corporation.


A call to OSHA's office in Albany was referred to agency spokesman James Lally, who confirmed that an investigation was ongoing but said OSHA had no comment on the matter as of Wednesday.


Fort Miller Co. opened the Fab3 Corp plant in Greenwich in 2013 to move operations from a plant in Saratoga Springs. The plant makes dump truck bodies, salt-and-sand spreaders and leaf loaders, according to its website.