Philadelphia

Ton of Recyclable Paper Crushes Worker to Death in Northeast Philadelphia

A worker died after being crushed by a ton of recyclable paper at a Northeast Philadelphia recycling site Tuesday morning.

The 42-year-old man was performing a routine inspection of his forklift at Waste Management's Philadelphia Material Recovery Facility along Bleigh Avenue near the Delaware River around 7:30 a.m. The forklift was situated near large bales of tightly packed recyclable paper, each bale weighing around one ton(2000 pounds).

Another person was operating a forklift nearby when it struck a group of cardboard, causing a cascade effect which led to one of the bales toppling onto the 42-year-old man, police said. The victim was taken to Aria-Torresdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 8:24 a.m.

NBC10 has a call into Waste Management for comment. 

Both OSHA and police continue to investigate the incident. Officials have not yet released the victim's identity. 

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