Public Employee Press

Highway worker Nick Antico killed on job

By JANE LaTOUR

Fatality is a cold word. It doesn’t convey the heartache that a death on the job creates, the feeling of wrenching loss, the gaping hole in the worlds of family and co-workers. Nick Antico’s death Sept. 27 meant all that and more.

The 35-year-old Dept. of Transportation worker died Sept. 27 after five days in a coma that began when a speeding SUV driver hurtled through the barriers set up to protect a road repair crew. The crew was working on Staten Island’s Slosson Avenue at 2 a.m. Sept. 22, when Vincent Ventafredda, 25, crashed into them and kept on driving.

Antico was sent flying 50 feet into the air. Co-workers Louis Ciccotto of Local 376 and Michael Moschella of Local 983, sustained serious injuries. All three were taken to the Staten Island University Hospital North. The two injured men were treated and released. Antico left behind a widow, Anna, a heartbroken daughter, Arianna, 8, and three siblings.

“A tragic thing”
Local 376 President Gene DeMartino has known Antico since he started out at DOT six years ago. “Nicky was in the same yard I worked out of, Flatlands Avenue. It’s a tragic thing that happened to him and to his family. He is going to be missed by everyone who worked with him.”

“Nicky Antico was well-liked,” said Local 983 Vice President Joseph Puleo. “He was a safety-first-type of person, always telling other people to be careful. His family and friends filled up the hospital waiting room,” said Puleo.

Antico was a member of Local 983 until DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall promoted him to Highway Repairer, a Local 376 title, effective Sept. 22.

Safety issues raised
While family members kept their vigil at Antico’s bedside, co-workers crowded the courtroom where the hit-and-run driver was arraigned Sept. 24. On Saturday, Oct. 1, they bid their friend farewell at the funeral at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Brooklyn.

Antico’s death and the injuries sustained by his co-workers catapulted safety issues for road crews into the spotlight.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts sent in the union’s Safety Dept. “The events of Sept. 22 need to be investigated thoroughly so we can find better ways to protect the lives of our members on the job,” she said.

A meeting with Commissioner Weinshall on Oct. 6 allowed local presidents and DC 37 staff to press for improvements. Local 1157 President Mickey McFarland, who represents supervisors in DOT, has a very short list: “This city should put police cars at every highway repair site, just like they do elsewhere, especially at night, as a deterrent,” he said.

Michael DeMarco, president of Traffic Employees Local 1455, also wants patrol cars. “Probably the riskiest operation for my members is the highway sign crew,” he said. “Out on the highways, day and night, in all kinds of weather, I would like to see a cop car assigned to every highway crew. When drivers see police lights, their natural reaction is to slow down.”

“We are saying that we want to see safety improvements at DOT. We want to live,” said Local 376 Treasurer Thomas Kattou. “Since 1982, there have been 12 on-the-job deaths, and a lot more accidents where our members were hit by cars and not killed,” he explained.

A joint labor-management committee has been set up, and the Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau of the state Labor Dept. is conducting an investigation. The committee was set up to assess the work zone areas and safety and it will take time to do that work, noted Lisa Baum of the DC 37 Safety Dept., who participated in the Oct. 6 meeting. “We don’t feel that safety overall at the agency is adequate. This is very dangerous work,” she said.

Ventafredda was due back in court on Oct. 25. “Members of our DOT locals will be there,” said DeMartino. “Everybody was hurt by this. Our members’ hope the driver gets just what he deserves. At the arraignment, we made it a point to sit down with the district attorney to make it clear that we take this very, very seriously. We want the driver prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said.

“We don’t take it lightly when one of our members is killed,” said DeMartino. “We need to make sure that DOT does everything in its power to protect the lives of our members on the job.”

Deeply saddened, Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal said he hopes the union can win “state legislation, in honor of Nick Antico, to protect all road crews.”