11/15/2001 Meadville Tribune

Stranahan dismisses my concerns as MINOR, while parroting the most implausible claims of Redi- Mix in this Meadville Tribune Article

November 15, 2001


Redi-Mix pays penalty for worker death
By Gary Johnson
Meadville Tribune

WEST MEAD TOWNSHIP - Meadville Redi-Mix Concrete Inc. didn't contest a $6,000 penalty ordered by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in late September that was related to a death at the company's Cochranton Road plant, but it also did not admit to any wrongdoing.

The company paid the penalty and implemented OSHA-approved safety-enhancement measures, including posting a sign and sealing off unauthorized access to six aggregate bins and a weigh hopper at its 19824 Cochranton Road plant. Among other activities, concrete is mixed at the plant.

OSHA issued the orders following an investigation of the Aug. 15 death of Gary Puleio, who was 53 and lived at 5568 Autumnwood Drive, Cochranton, at the time of his death.

Puleio fell 18 to 20 feet into an empty mixing tower, apparently while shoveling material into the tower.

According to a Sept. 28 OSHA citation, there was no sign at the top of the bins warning of the fall danger where Puleio was working. The bins are used to store sand and gravel materials.

In addition, the bins and weigh hopper, into which material from the bins are dumped, were "not secured to prevent unauthorized entry," according to the citation. The bins are at least 17 feet in depth and the hopper is up to eight feet deep, the citation said. The depths constitute a fall hazard under OSHA regulations.

John Stranahan, OSHA area director, said the violation in this case was classified as repeat, which essentially means violations were corrected but later were found to re-appear.

The citation indicated the same or similar citations had been issued during a June 25 inspection. That inspection was prompted after an OSHA study that indicated businesses like Meadville Redi-Mix had many citations, according to Stranahan. However, he noted Meadville Redi-Mix did not necessarily have a high citation rate. "A lot of concrete batch plants showed up on that list," he said.

He said repeats don't happen often but they do occur. "It just means we have issued a citation for the same standard, or if it's not the same, for a substantially similar condition," he said. "If we've issued something reasonably close in the last three years, we can issue it as a repeat."

Meadville Red-Mix secretary-treasurer, Albert Allegretti, and operations manager, John Shartle, both said the June violations were taken care of quickly and did not pertain to the bin area where Puleio died.

Shartle said the company complied with OSHA's mandates following the June inspection. "We felt we were in 100 percent compliance of OSHA regulations."

Allegretti agreed. "It was taken care of in a relatively short amount of time."

Stranahan noted the company did not ask to settle. "They basically paid the full penalty and submitted photos of the abatement," he said, noting the penalty was paid in full last week. "They just paid it as issued."

Shartle and Allegretti confirmed that the company paid the penalty and took steps ordered by OSHA, but hasn't admitted to any wrongdoing. Neither of the men commented on whether the company accepts responsibility or fault.

Puleio's sister, Donna Puleio Spadaro, is not satisfied with the company's position.

She questioned why Puleio, who was a truck driver, was on top of the bins in the first place. She said it was not part of his regular job duties and that he was afraid of heights and had trouble with his knees.

Shartle said Puleio's death is unfortunate and a blow to the company but he said the reason Puleio died is a mystery to him, as well.

"To the best of our knowledge, he was not instructed to go up there. He was instructed to go out back and help a couple guys go out and clean the tail pulley at the bottom of the conveyor," Shartle said. The tail pulley is at ground level, at the opposite end of the conveyor from the bins. "He came in from his regular duties - driving truck - and he had some free time."

However, Shartle said the workers Puleio was asked to help were apparently finished. From there, he said, Puleio apparently "took it upon himself to go up on top of the plant (bins) to possibly do some cleanup work."

Shartle continued, "We don't have the answers to why he went up there. We will never have the answer. He had the answer."

He said there are safety procedures in place for employees who work on top of the bins. However, he said the main work done up there is general maintenance, and the workers who do that have the necessary safety equipment and skills. "We have straps, we have ropes. The guys that are trained in that area have that equipment. They are the ones to go up there. If (Puleio) had been instructed to go up there, he'd have had the necessary equipment. He was specifically instructed to go to the tail pulley, which is on the ground.

"However, the type of employee that Gary was, he always did more than you expected. That's the way he was," Shartle said.

Spadaro noted that West Mead Township Police Officer Chip Brown wrote in his report on the incident that "discrepancies" existed between what company employees told him and what they told OSHA's investigator.

Spadaro sent a letter to Stranahan, asking what these discrepancies were and why they were not considered in the investigation.

Stranahan said of the discrepancies, "They really did not have much of a bearing on our investigation. The discrepancies were, in my view, minor. For example, some folks said the victim was afraid of heights and some said he was not. Things like that."

He said as far as OSHA is concerned, the case is closed and no further action or review is planned.

That doesn't allay Spadaro's concerns.

"A fine of $6,000 is pathetic and insulting when the life of a hard-working, cautious man like Gary was so callously thrown away," she said.

However, Allegretti noted the penalty was for a code violation, not for Puleio's death. Shartle stressed that no dollar figure or penalty could be put on a human life.

"We are still grieving the loss of an excellent employee," Shartle said. "He'd have been a long-term employee here. He did an outstanding job. We valued him."

"People here still think about Gary," Allegretti said. "It's still a loss to us."


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