Worker Killed In Lower Providence Water Tower Accident Identified
By Oren Liebermann
LOWER PROVIDENCE, Pa. (CBS) – According to police, one worker has died while cleaning the inside of an empty water tank in the Audubon section of Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County.
Police say three workers with Corrosion Control Corporation, of Pedricktown, New Jersey, were inside the 80-foot tank, located on Featherbed Lane, when the accident happened at 11:04 Wednesday morning. One was on the floor of the water tank, while the other two were suspended inside the tank to clean it.
Police say one worker, identified as 31-year-old Jason Schmidt, of Jacobus, fell to his death inside the tank while the second worker fell several feet and remained suspended in the tower. Officials say the third worker called police.
The suspended worker was rescued from the tower at 2:25 p.m. and taken to Paoli Hospital, officials say.
OSHA investigators are now on the scene investigating the accident.
Audubon Water Company, which owns the tanks, referred Eyewitness News' calls to the company's attorney. Audubon contracted Corrosion Control Corporation to clean the tanks.
The Pedricktown, NJ cleaning company had a very similar workplace accident in June 2008. According to an OSHA database, a worker doing some sandblasting in Oxford, Chester County fell to his death. The company was hit with five workplace violations, two of them serious, and fined nearly $12,810.
