Woman, 39, crushed to death on the job at factory

It was almost time for Yolanda Gonzalez to leave her East Farmingdale factory job when, her landlady said, Gonzalez's family got a frantic phone call from a co-worker: Two pallets loaded with containers had fallen on the 39-year-old Lake Ronkonkoma woman, crushing her to death.

Her brother, too upset to drive after hearing of the Tuesday night accident, rode with landlady Christine Jamsky and Gonzalez's teenage daughter to L&S Packing Co., the Central Avenue factory where police were investigating the death.

Gonzalez was labeling pallets of canned tomatoes at L&S, 101 Central Ave., about 6:45 p.m. when two adjacent pallets of a bottled vodka sauce fell on her, Suffolk County police said.

She was pronounced dead at the scene by Suffolk County medical examiner officials.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration also is investigating.

Nanette Martinez of Pembroke Pines, Fla., the wife of Gonzalez's cousin, said the family was still seeking information Wednesday about how the accident happened. Martinez, whose husband was flying to Long Island, said Gonzalez's boyfriend was heading to pick her up at the time of the accident.

The two were engaged to be married, family said. She'll be buried next week in Puerto Rico, where she moved with family as a young girl after being born in Bridgeport, Conn.

Messages left with the company were not returned Wednesday, and a sign on the front door of the factory said the business was closed for the day.

Ted Fitzgerald, a spokesman for OSHA's regional office, confirmed its investigation but would not comment on specifics. OSHA investigates job-related accidents to determine what safety standards apply and whether the company followed those standards, he said.

L&S has had no previous incidents requiring an OSHA investigation, officials said.