One man has died and another was seriously injured after a hydraulic lift they were in toppled over Friday morning at a construction site on the campus of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
Peter Marchese of Nashua, N.H., a 40-year-old construction worker died at the scene after the lift fell, according to a New Hampshire newspaper on Saturday. Waltham Police Detective Lt. Brian Navin said another worker, a 30-year-old man, was seriously injured and rushed to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. His condition was unknown as of yesterday. .
The identities of the two men have not been released by police, but the Nashua Telegraph reported one of the men as Marchese.
Navin said the two men, who work for Lymo Construction Co. Inc. in Merrimac, N.H., were working on a hydraulic lift installing metal panels to a building inside AstraZeneca's campus at 35 Gatehouse Drive.
About 11 a.m., the two men were approximately 25 feet in the air when the lift became unstable and toppled over, sending both men to the ground, Navin said. He said the lift was on an incline, but the cause of the accident is still under investigation. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is heading the investigation with assistance of local and state police and Middlesex County District Attorney's office.
Waltham Police, Fire and Rescue workers arrived at the complex at 11:09 a.m. Paramedics pronounced Marchese had died shortly afterward, according to police. Construction was halted for the day and AstraZeneca staff were informed of the incident. Approximately 500 people work at AstraZeneca's Waltham campus, which opened in spring 2000.
Several attempts to reach personnel at Lymo Construction Co. Inc. by phone were unsuccessful.
Navin said the lift was a rental from Chicago-based NES Rentals.
NES Rentals spokesman Chris Bowers said Friday the two men were using a "Genie 85-Foot Boom Lift."
"First and foremost we want to express our deepest sympathies for the family and friends of those individuals," Bowers said. "We are cooperating with local authorities and with OSHA on anything they ask in order to help move the investigation forward."
AstraZeneca site manager John Hennessy said the building the two men were working on is a pharmaceutical research facility the company is expanding. Hennessy said they plan to conduct an investigation and would not say whether the accident would affect the facility's expected completion date of mid-2009.
Hennessy said the safety record for the project has been excellent, noting a minor knee injury from a previous construction worker as the only other accident associated with the project. The expansion of the facility began during the first quarter of 2007.
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or at jgilbrid@cnc.com.
