An employee doing contract work at the BNSF Automotive Distribution Center in El Mirage has died after being trapped under a heavy metal plate, the El Mirage Police Department said.
Officers arrived at the center near U.S. 60 and Thompson Ranch Road at 9:15 a.m. Aug. 28 after an initial report that machinery had fallen on a worker in the yard, according to El Mirage police spokesperson Lt. Jimmy Chavez.
The plate was “later determined to weigh in excess of a thousand pounds,” Chavez said. The man was unresponsive and confirmed dead by fire personnel.
The identity of the man had not yet been released, as of 4 p.m. Aug. 28.
When contacted by The Arizona Republic, BNSF said the “unfortunate incident” didn’t involve a BNSF employee or BNSF equipment, according to BNSF Director of External Communications Kendall Sloan. It was a “contractor of a contractor,” Sloan said.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Contract employee crushed by metal plate at El Mirage worksite dies