ENDICOTT -- A routine procedure ended in tragedy Thursday, leaving one maintenance worker dead and another seriously burned at the Huron Real Estate Associates campus in Endicott.

"We're obviously devastated. We're doing our best to deal with the employee who was burned and reach out to the families," said James Sullivan, vice president of human resources for Huron Real Estate Associates and Endicott Interconnect Technologies.

The four-story building houses about 300 employees from IBM, EI and Fidelity Investments. The accident took place in the building's mechanical room.

Marion Korcipa, 54, of Endicott, died in the explosion, while Ronald Walter, 58, of Brackney, Pa., was seriously injured.

The two maintenance workers were conducting routine repair work on a pressurized steam pipe in Building 14 on the Huron campus, 1301 North St., at the time of the accident, Sullivan said.

A high-pressure steam valve adjacent to the one they were working on ruptured, Sullivan said. The rupture filled the room with shrapnel and steam. One of the maintenance workers was able to pull the alarm, alerting employees to evacuate the building shortly after 8:15 a.m., Sullivan said.

Industrial fatalities of this type are rare. Of 11,339 workplace fatalities in 2003-04, 93 involved maintenance workers, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate. Only 32 workers died from burns in 2003-04, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's regional public affairs office in Boston.

"I heard an explosion and a man screaming and yelling for help," said Ann Totten, a janitor with Johnson Controls who was working in the building.

When Endicott firefighters arrived on the scene, they found Walter outside the room with serious second- and third-degree burns, said Stephen Hrustich, fire marshal with the Endicott Fire Department. He had crawled up the hallway and was conscious and talking, Hrustich said.

Korcipa was still in the mechanical room. After removing him from the room, firefighters and emergency personnel began CPR, Hrustich said. Fire Department Chaplin the Rev. Edward Zandy pronounced last rites on the way to Wilson Regional Medical Center.

Korcipa was pronounced dead at Wilson at 8:55 a.m., said Jon Tooley, a hospital spokesman. Walter was later transferred to the Clark Burn Center at University Hospital in Syracuse where he was listed in critical condition Thursday evening.

"It was a tough sight to see. Burn victims are a tough sight any day of the week," Hrustich said.

Walter has burns on his face, hands, arms and chest, said his son, Jeff Walter. His father was sedated Thursday for the pain, he said. His father has worked at the Huron campus, formerly IBM, for more than 20 years, he added.

An Endicott firefighter and a Huron Emergency Services fire marshal were also injured during the rescue, the Endicott Fire Department reported. The firefighter, Gary Denmon, suffered a shoulder injury. He was treated and released from Lourdes Hospital. The fire marshal, identified by Hrustich as Bob Locker, had burns to his hands and was treated at the scene.

The state Department of Labor and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration went to the Huron campus after the rupture, the Endicott Fire Department reported.

OSHA must be notified and conduct a standard investigation anytime an employee dies in an accident, Sullivan said. Preliminary reports indicate the workers were following proper safety procedures, he said. "It was just an accidental rupture of a valve," he added.

Thursday's accident caused no damage to Building 14 on the Huron campus outside of the damage to the mechanical room, Sullivan said.

Employees were allowed to return to the building about 9:05 a.m.

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