A maintenance worker at the American Ref-Fuel garbage processing plant in
Westbury died of head injuries in an accident on the job yesterday, company
officials said.
"He was doing some maintenance work at the plant when the accident took
place," said Lyle Hanna, communications director for the plant's Houston-based
parent company. The spokesman declined to give further details on the accident,
which he said happened at 11:30 a.m.
He identified the worker as Ephraim S. Rodriguez, 50, of Shoreham, a
maintenance man who had been employed at the plant since October, 1997. Rodri-
guez, who had a wife and two children, was transported to Nassau County Medical
Center in East Meadow, where he was pronounced dead. Nassau police were
investigating the accident.
"Our first concern is for the family," Hanna said. He said counseling and
other assistance had been offered to Rodriguez' family and co-workers.
According to Nassau police, Rodriguez, a maintenance worker, had been
assigned to do periodic repairs on a crane track line. The crane runs on tracks
about 100 feet above a pit of refuse to be incinerated, Nassau Homicide Det.
Lt. Frank Guidice said. As the crane came back toward him on the track, it
pinned Rodriguez against a support beam, crushing the back of his skull,
Guidice said. He was thrust back from the beam onto the catwalk.
Rodriguez' death was the first at any of the company's six plants, Hanna
said. The company has worked with its employees and the U.S. Occupational
Safety and Health Administration to ensure safety at its plants, Hanna said.
