Construction Worker Killed In Woodbridge; Another Is Critical

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — One construction worker has been killed and two others injured, one critically, after all three were electrocuted Friday morning in Woodbridge Township, according to a township official.

What appears to be an accident occurred at at 7:53 a.m. Friday at 187 Quincy Court in the Hopelawn section, said John Hagerty, a spokesman for Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac. This is a redevelopment construction site; a private developer is building town homes there.

The three men are all subcontractors and they were putting up sliding. One man was on the roof and two were on the ground. They were holding a metal pipe or pole, Hagerty said.

"The worker on the roof lost control of the pipe and it struck a 220-volt PSE&G electric line," he said. "It electrocuted the two workers on the ground."

Because he had dropped the pipe, the man on the roof was unharmed. But the two men on the ground were severely injured by the 220-volts of electricity.

EMS and Woodbridge police were at the scene by 8:02 a.m. They began resuscitation efforts and two of the most critically injured men were taken to Robert Wood University Medical Center in New Brunswick.

There, one of the men was pronounced dead Friday morning, said Hagerty. The second remains critically injured.

A third worker was taken to Perth Amboy Medical Center with electrocution burns, which are not considered life threatening. He was working nearby when this happened, and although he was not holding the pipe, he was still injured.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is now investigating.