The Vermont State Police are investigating the death of a subcontractor at the Casella Waste Systems landfill in Coventry following a workplace accident on the morning of July 9, 2026.
The incident was reported around 9:40 a.m. when Newport EMS was dispatched to the landfill on Landfill Lane for an unconscious man. The man, later identified as Thomas Feerick, 58, of Fairfax, was reported to have fallen. He was transported to North Country Hospital in Newport, where life-saving measures failed and he was pronounced dead.
Investigators determined that Feerick was operating an aerial lift to remove a section of fencing when the lift tipped over down a small embankment. He was not wearing a harness and was ejected from the platform when it struck the ground or just before. Contractors nearby rushed to him and called 911.
All evidence indicates the incident was accidental and not suspicious, according to the Vermont State Police. Feerick's body was taken to the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.
NEK will be looking into whether the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation into the incident.
Photo: Maximilian Jaenicke via Unsplash. Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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