Employee Loses leg in 'Traumatic' Accident at Mountain Productions

BY BOB KALINOWSKI (STAFF WRITER) Published: May 26, 2011 Federal workplace safety officials have launched an investigation after an employee suffered a traumatic leg injury Wednesday morning at a Wilkes-Barre business that specializes in building stages for events. A large beam or pipe that was being moved by machinery on the property of Mountain Productions became loose and fell on the employee, said Bob Hoban, assistant area director of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Wilkes-Barre fire crews and paramedics responded to the 80 New Frederick St. business around 9:25 a.m. for a “traumatic event” and transported the man to the trauma unit of Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township, city spokesman Drew McLaughlin said. City officials refused to release the victim’s name or the nature of his injuries. However, Luzerne County 911 emergency dispatches indicated the man’s leg was severed. Hoban said an OSHA compliance officer visited the staging company following the incident to launch an investigation. “They were moving some type of pipe – a large pipe – and somehow the pipe got loose and apparently injured the employee,” Hoban said. “We opened up an investigation with the company.” A woman who answered the phone at Mountain Productions and identified herself as Maggie said the company would not immediately comment on the incident. Emails to company officials were not returned Wednesday. On its website, Mountain Productions bills itself as “the largest staging company in North America.” The company, founded in 1979, pro duces stages, grandstands and other equipment for concerts and large productions. Its portfolio of work includes Pope John Paul II’s visit to New York City, the inauguration of President George W. Bush, the Dalai Lama’s visit to Rutgers University, a host of concert tours, and annual work for the University of Pennsylvania’s graduation, according to its website.