Gary Puleio: Gary Puleio Retrospective

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”. .

Friday, April 11, 2008

Gary Puleio Retrospective

Gary Puleio (4/13/1948—8/15/2001) http://garypuleio.blogspot.com was killed at Meadville Redi-Mix Concrete, where he had been employed only 3 months as a non union cement truck driver. He fell 25 feet while shoveling gravel off a hopper at the top of a concrete t tower. The company claimed he “just wandered up there on his own” not wearing any safety equipment at the end of his driving shift rather than being assigned this dangerous task. OSHA accepted this implausible excuse and after admitting NO wrongdoing Redi-Mix paid a $6000 fine for REPEAT violations for not posting signs at a confined space. Redi-Mix had multiple serious violations issued only months before Gary was killed which were informally settled with reduced fines. This video is a tribute to a fine man whose life was brutally taken due to unsafe working conditions, lack of corporate accountability and an inadequate regulatory system