Injured worker faces 'long road'

The condition of a worker who lost his legs in a Shirley industrial accident Tuesday has stabilized, a company spokesman said.

Ken Meyer, senior vice president at Clare Rose, one of the country's largest beer distributorships, said Thursday that "our thoughts and prayers" go out to the employee, Julio Granados, 56, of Patchogue.

"It looks like he's going to be OK, but he's got a long road ahead of him," Meyer said.

On Tuesday, Granados' legs were severely injured when he was trying to clear a blockage in a large compacting and baling machine at the company's new Shirley facility. Both legs were amputated below the knee at Stony Brook University Medical Center because of the accident, Meyer said.

A hospital spokesman said last night that Granados remained in critical but stable condition.

Meyer said Granados' family -- his mother, brother and sister -- have been flown in from Texas to be with him. Meyer said Granados is a 20-year employee of a Clare Rose subsidiary, Environmental Resource Recycling Inc.

Environmental Resource Recycling, based in Patchogue, handles recyclable material, including metals, cardboard and plastic, for Clare Rose and other Long Island companies, Meyer said.

Meyer praised the work of Suffolk County police and another employee who cared for Granados immediately after the 1:30 p.m. accident at 100 Rose Executive Blvd.

Meyer said officers from the Seventh Precinct and an employee, trailer driver Anthony Nunziata, 46, of Yaphank, were able to quickly free Granados from the machine and apply tourniquets until emergency personnel arrived.

A helicopter took Granados to Stony Brook, police said.

Ted Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said Wednesday the agency has opened an investigation into the accident.