OSHA investigating fatal accident at recycling plant
BULLSKIN TWP. — The U.S. Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said it could take several months to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of a Connellsville man working at a local recycling plant.
Mark Fremd, 56, of Connellsville, was killed Monday when three large bales of paper fell on him while he was working at Allen Enterprises, formerly B&R Recycling, located on Bellview Road.
Fremd was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:30 a.m. by Fayette County Deputy Coroner Ross Rock.
Police estimated the weight of each of the bales to be between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds.
Robert Szymanski, OSHA area director, said Tuesday that an investigator was sent to the scene shortly after the 10:30 a.m. accident.
“(The investigation) has just started,” he said. “The investigations take months, not days, to complete.
“We treat each and every fatality and accident that we investigate with the utmost care and make sure we cross all our “t’s” and dot all our “i’s”.
Szymanski said that while lengthy, most investigations are generally are finished within three months.
“(Fatal accidents) are the most important cases we handle, so they do take time to do appropriately,” he said.
A spokesman for the Fayette County Coroner’s Office said that an autopsy would be conducted today by Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, a forensic pathologist from Pittsburgh. Toxicology and other tests are also being completed.
State police also have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident. Trooper Timothy A. Kirsch, the investigating officer, has asked that anyone with information about the accident call the Uniontown station at 724-439-7111.
In April 2003, Fremd was convicted of 13 counts of drug-related and insurance fraud charges. According to court testimony, Fremd abused his duty as a physician when he prescribed drugs for people he never had treated, exchanged drugs for sex or defrauded insurance companies by billing for treatments he never gave from 1997 to 2000.
Fremd was sentenced to 1 ½ to 3 years in prison and ordered to repay $284,538 he fraudulently billed Highmark Blue Shield for treatments he never rendered.
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Staff writer J. Miles Layton contributed to this article.