Penn United worker killed
BUFFALOTWP — Authorities are investigating the death of a Valencia area man killed in an industrial accident Wednesday morning at the former Napco building on Route 356.
Edward Miller, 57, died of injuries Thursday suffered when he fell up to 15 feet from an aerial lift machine, according to investigators.
Miller, an electrician for Penn United Technologies, was on the scissor-lift about 8:40 a.m. Wednesday installing or repairing wires when he lost his balance.
He fell over on the 4-wheel hydraulic or electrical hoist and hit the ground below, said Stephanie Bollard, a forensic investigator for the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.
He suffered head and "multiple fractures,"Bollard said.
Miller was bleeding from the head and apparently unconscious when Saxonburg Ambulance paramedics arrived at the Penn United plant.
The company this year bought the former Napco window manufacturing plant. Penn United is working on improvements to the 110,000-square-foot facility that will house its automated robotics machining department.
Miller worked for the company for more than 10 years.
Authorities said Miller was taken by ambulance to Butler Memorial Hospital and then flown by medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he was pronounced dead at 11:46 a.m. Thursday.
An autopsy was planned this morning, and there was no preliminary cause of death.
Penn United officials declined to answer questions about the on-site accident, opting to only issue a prepared statement.
"(Penn United) has assembled a team of safety and environmental personnel to thoroughly investigate the accident,"the statement said.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was also notified of the workplace fatality.
Miller, who is survived by his wife and a daughter, served for the past five years as a fire police officer for the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company.
"He was a good member and one of those guys that never gave you any problems,"said Saxonburg FireChief Gary Cooper. "He did his business, had a cup of coffee with the other guys and went home."
Miller's obituary is on
Page 6.
