'DEATH' MACHINE HAD LEAK - NEW CLUE IN WINDOW WASHERS' TRAGEDY:
A fellow worker at the World Financial Center site where a cherry picker toppled over today, sending two window washers to their doom, said he saw fluid leaking from ill-fated machine just a week ago. The so-called "man lift" fell over at about 12:45 a.m. Cousins Darin and Robert Fabrizio were cleaning the glass near the building's famous Winter Garden when the massive unit suddenly tipped over. They were rushed to New York Downtown Hospital, where they were pronounced dead early this morning. Officials said that they were about 40 feet in the air when the tragedy occurred. It wasn't clear if one or both of the men were in the vehicle's basket.
Today, investigators from the federal Occupational Safety and Heath Administration and the New York State Department of Labor were at the downtown site, investigating the incident.
Neither agency could explain the cause of accident. "We're going to be looking at the equipment itself, the mechanical parts, talking to witnesses," said Department of Labor spokesman Leo Rosales. But one worker at the site said he saw the cherry picker being serviced last week.
"It was leaking fluid," he said. "But it was fixed." Police said that Darin Fabrizio, 37, lived in Milford, Pa., and Robert Fabrizio lived in Las Vegas. One worked for Total Building Services of Linden, NJ, and the other was his cousin, a retired window washer, the company said. The orange and yellow cherry picker has a four-wheeled base with a motor, and a long scissoring arm with a basket on the end. The arm can extend about 80 feet in the air, and it is commonly used to wash the windows on the lowest floors of high-rises. Rosales said that the World Financial Center had the proper permits to operate the lift for window washing: See yesterday.
ANOTHER HEADLINE TELLING OF THE TRADEDY:
Two window washers working across the street from Ground Zero fell more than 40 feet to their deaths early Tuesday after their cherry picker tipped over and catapulted them through the air, officials said. Investigators believe the cherry picker rolled over a dip in the pavement, causing it to topple and eject them from the truck bucket as they cleaned the windows of the World Financial Center, a police source said. Cousins Robert Fabrizio, 35, and Darin Fabrizio, 37, both died at New York Downtown Hospital minutes after the 12:45 a.m. accident, police said. "I heard a boom," said a maintenance worker who was buffing the floors inside 2 World Financial Center as the cousins cleaned the skyscraper's exterior windows. Other workers ran to the cherry picker, which had flipped onto its side on the inclined sidewalk outside the building. "I saw them on the [ground]. ... There was a lot of blood on their heads and faces," said the shift supervisor, Alex Garcia. "I saw one of them trying to breathe, but the other one didn't move." Darin Fabrizio, a longtime window washer, was engaged to be married this year, according to a woman who answered the phone at his Milford, Pa., home. "The family is really hurting," said the woman, who declined to give her name. Other relatives said Robert Fabrizio split his time between Staten Island and Las Vegas. Both cousins worked for Total Building Services of Linden, N.J., a cleaning service that had been hired by Shepard Industries of Cedar Knolls, N.J., to wash the skyscraper complex's windows. An employee who answered the phone at Total Building Services said, "There's really no story here" before ending the call. A spokeswoman for Shepard Industries expressed her condolences to the Fabrizio family but declined further comment. A state Department of Labor spokesman said the agency was investigating whether the cherry picker or the company had received any previous violations at the World Financial Center site.
Today, investigators from the federal Occupational Safety and Heath Administration and the New York State Department of Labor were at the downtown site, investigating the incident.
Neither agency could explain the cause of accident. "We're going to be looking at the equipment itself, the mechanical parts, talking to witnesses," said Department of Labor spokesman Leo Rosales. But one worker at the site said he saw the cherry picker being serviced last week.
"It was leaking fluid," he said. "But it was fixed." Police said that Darin Fabrizio, 37, lived in Milford, Pa., and Robert Fabrizio lived in Las Vegas. One worked for Total Building Services of Linden, NJ, and the other was his cousin, a retired window washer, the company said. The orange and yellow cherry picker has a four-wheeled base with a motor, and a long scissoring arm with a basket on the end. The arm can extend about 80 feet in the air, and it is commonly used to wash the windows on the lowest floors of high-rises. Rosales said that the World Financial Center had the proper permits to operate the lift for window washing: See yesterday.
ANOTHER HEADLINE TELLING OF THE TRADEDY:
Two window washers working across the street from Ground Zero fell more than 40 feet to their deaths early Tuesday after their cherry picker tipped over and catapulted them through the air, officials said. Investigators believe the cherry picker rolled over a dip in the pavement, causing it to topple and eject them from the truck bucket as they cleaned the windows of the World Financial Center, a police source said. Cousins Robert Fabrizio, 35, and Darin Fabrizio, 37, both died at New York Downtown Hospital minutes after the 12:45 a.m. accident, police said. "I heard a boom," said a maintenance worker who was buffing the floors inside 2 World Financial Center as the cousins cleaned the skyscraper's exterior windows. Other workers ran to the cherry picker, which had flipped onto its side on the inclined sidewalk outside the building. "I saw them on the [ground]. ... There was a lot of blood on their heads and faces," said the shift supervisor, Alex Garcia. "I saw one of them trying to breathe, but the other one didn't move." Darin Fabrizio, a longtime window washer, was engaged to be married this year, according to a woman who answered the phone at his Milford, Pa., home. "The family is really hurting," said the woman, who declined to give her name. Other relatives said Robert Fabrizio split his time between Staten Island and Las Vegas. Both cousins worked for Total Building Services of Linden, N.J., a cleaning service that had been hired by Shepard Industries of Cedar Knolls, N.J., to wash the skyscraper complex's windows. An employee who answered the phone at Total Building Services said, "There's really no story here" before ending the call. A spokeswoman for Shepard Industries expressed her condolences to the Fabrizio family but declined further comment. A state Department of Labor spokesman said the agency was investigating whether the cherry picker or the company had received any previous violations at the World Financial Center site.
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