Gary Puleio: Erie Times News 8/16/2001 Worker Dies at Meadville Concrete Plant

Gary Puleio

Gary was killed on the job at a concrete plant on August 15, 2001. He had been employed there only 3 months as a non-union cement truck driver and fell 25 feet to his death, from a cement tower, while shoveling gravel off the hopper to clean it. The company claimed Gary just wandered up there on his own, without wearing any safety equipment, at the end of his driving shift rather than being assigned this dangerous task because he was the “new man”. OSHA accepted this implausible story and after admitting no wrong doing, the company paid a $6000 fine for REPEAT violations for not posting danger signs at a confined space and not implementing measures to prevent unauthorized entry. This company had multiple serious violations issued only months before Gary was killed which were informally settled with reduced fines. Corporations routinely “negotiate” with OSHA to downgrade fines through a process called “abatement. ” Aggrieved families of dead workers have no such access to OSHA, face hurdles in obtaining information under the Freedom of Information Act, have their concerns condescendingly dismissed and ultimately are told that no further action can be taken once 6 months have passed since the “alleged violation”. .

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Erie Times News 8/16/2001 Worker Dies at Meadville Concrete Plant

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Article published Aug 16, 2001
Worker dies at Meadville concrete plant

By Gary Wesman
Staff writer

An employee of a Crawford County construction company was found dead at the bottom of a concrete-mixing bin Wednesday afternoon.

Crawford County Coroner Patrick McHenry said the victim, Gary Puleio, 44, 5568 Autumnwood Drive, Cochranton, apparently fell 18 or 20 feet from the top of the mixing tower.

McHenry said Puleio suffered head injuries. He withheld a ruling on the cause and manner of death until forensic pathologist Dr. Eric Vey performs an autopsy today at the Erie County Morgue.

McHenry said he ordered the autopsy to determine if Puleio died of injuries in an accidental fall or died of a sudden illness that preceded the fall.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified, McHenry said.

It was reported at 3:27 p.m. at the Meadville Redi-Mix Concrete Co. plant at Kebert Construction Co. on U.S. Route 322 in West Mead Township, south of Meadville.

The coroner said Puleio was atop the mixing tower alone, shoveling material into the bin, when he fell at about 3:15 p.m.

Some of the materials that make concrete spill to the side when they are poured into the bin, and every so often workers go to the top of the tower to shovel the remainder into the mix. Puleio, a truck driver for the Kebert concrete business, wasn't busy at the moment and decided to do the job himself.

"The victim apparently decided on his own to clean the tower," McHenry said.

Co-workers began to look for Puleio when the owner of the company needed someone to retrieve a part from a different section of the plant and they realized Puleio was missing, he said.

McHenry said he does not know the federal safety regulations for concrete plants, but the normal procedure at Kebert Redi-Mix is for workers to be on the tower in twos.

According to OSHA, 5,915 workers died on the job in the United States in 2000. Falls were the fourth-leading cause of death, behind traffic accidents, workplace violence and injuries caused by contact with equipment or other objects.

Nationwide, 12 workers whose jobs involve manufacturing ready-mix concrete died on the job in 2000, the majority of them in traffic accidents, according to OSHA.
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