UPDATE: This article has been corrected to reflect Julio Perez’s employer was JP Installations.

EDISON, NJ–On August 27, 36-year-old Julio Perez died after an accident at the NU World Beauty Supply warehouse on Mill Road in Edison’s Heller Industrial Park.

Perez, a New Brunswick resident with Guatemalan roots, was killed at 4:15 p.m. “when a section of steel scaffolding accidentally collapsed inside the warehouse,” according to a statement released by the Township.

According to Edison spokesperson Tony Gallotto, witnesses told investigating Edison Police Officer Michael Gallant that “the victim was one of several laborers who were disassembling the scaffolding when the accident happened.”

“None of the other workers were injured, managing to move out of harm’s way as the collapse occurred, police said.”

Edison police officers and local firefighters arrived on scene, along with paramedics from JFK Medical Center, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office (MCPO) Fatal Accident Investigation Unit, and representatives from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) responded to the accident scene.

Police had initially withheld the victim’s identity until September 1, while the Edison Police Department attempted to notify Perez’s wife and other relatives in Guatemala.

The beauty supply company that rents the facility where Perez was working is based in Carteret.

A spokesperson for NU World said that Perez was actually an employee of Hightstown-based Diversified Rack & Shelving, Inc., according to an article by NJ.com’s Noah Cohen.

Cohen reported that a spokesperson for NU World Beauty Supply said that Diversified Rack & Shelving was on-site to dismantle shelving that it had previously installed.

However, Ron Longo, the President of Diversified Rack said that Perez was actually employed by “a third-party service” that his company utilitized on the job: JP Installations.

Perez’s death is at least the county’s second industrial accident in just four days.  According to published reports, a Roselle resident suffered injuries after his right hand was caught in a compactor at the Renaissance Hotel on Route 1 in Woodbridge.

Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.