State Investigating Refuse Worker’s Death

State safety officials began an investigation Tuesday into the death of a worker who was buried under tons of refuse at a recycling yard.

Celestino Mendoza, 55, a supervisor at the plant, disappeared around 7:50 p.m. Monday. He had been working in the green waste processing area of the five-acre recycling yard, where workers sort giant piles of lawn clippings, tree branches and other yard waste collected from homes.

Co-workers searched unsuccessfully for Mendoza, then called 911 about 8:30 p.m. Fifty Anaheim firefighters and two search dogs waded through the decaying rubbish for more than two hours. They found Mendoza’s body shortly before 10:30 p.m.

Plant officials said they do not know how Mendoza came to be buried, and coroner’s investigators will not determine a cause of death until they complete tests.

At the family’s home in Anaheim, Mendoza’s 18-year-old son Mario remembered his father as “a happy person, a hard-working man who told us to always hold up our heads, no matter what happened.” Mendoza, the father of two, immigrated from Mexico to California about 12 years ago. He had been a popular night shift employee for the last five years and received the company’s worker of the year award, his son said.

“He loved his job,” Mario Mendoza said.

Investigators from the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration were at the site of the accident Tuesday morning, interviewing employees and company officials.

Jim Brown, Anaheim manager for Cal/OSHA, said the investigation could take up to six months.

Cal/OSHA has cited Taormina Industries, which runs the plant, for several safety violations since 1994, some involving a 55-year-old worker who was hospitalized with multiple fractures after a fall, Cal/OSHA records show.

The company also was cited for failing to meet state reporting requirements in 1994, when a Taormina employee suffered broken ribs and cuts when a truck knocked over a platform, records show.