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”. .

Gary Anthony Puleio

Gary Anthony Puleio

Gary Puleio's Tower

Blogger/writer Mick Arran wrote about Gary on his site "Matewan" Matewan at Gary Puleio I have added his writings to Gary Puleio's Tower>

Wednesday, October 7, 2009




Here is an email I received from Steve Sallman... Thank you Steve and Jordan Barab

Yesterday I attended a meeting at the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Labor–OSHA in Washington D.C. It’s my understanding that Jordan Barab, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, directed his staff to hang up pictures in the building of workers who had lost their lives on the job and to remind them why workers need a strong OSHA.



Sadly, the main conference room I was in had approximately 15 photos on the wall. Your brother was one of them. I took two pictures with my cell phone before leaving the room and I have attached them to my email. I hope the photos give you a feel for their size and the meaning of them on the wall (unfortunately, my pictures didn’t turn out very well – Sorry).



If you would like to send Jordan a note about your brother, you can email him at barab.jordan@dol.gov



I hope that you can take comfort in this information I’m sending you – I can only imagine how hard it is for you. Please know that your strength and activism is making a difference and I encourage you to stay strong.



I look forward to seeing you again at the 2010 Workers Memorial Day Committee meeting.
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