Six years have passed since my brother, Gary Puleio, a cement truck driver was killed at Meadville Redi-Mix Concrete on 8/15/2001 after falling from a concrete tower. OSHA accepted the implausible excuse offered by Redi-Mix that Gary just "wandered up there on his own" at the end of the driving shift rather than, as a new employee, being assigned the dangerous task of cleaning the tower without any safety equipment. Meadville Redi-Mix had been cited for numerous serious violations only months before Gary was killed. For Gary ’s death, Redi-Mix paid a $6000 fine for REPEAT violations and accepted no wrongdoing.
Full access to Gary ’s case records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was denied. The appeal to obtain full access and to review the “substantive” issues of the case was stalled for months. Finally, no further action could be taken anyway as OSHA requires that any citations or penalties must be issued within 6 months of an “alleged violation” as the neglectful killing of worker is called. Corporations routinely negotiate with OSHA to have fines reduced and violations downgraded through a process called abatement while workers have no such access.
As I remember my brother today, I recall the terrible unjust circumstances surrounding his death, the inadequacies of the regulatory system designed to protect corporations not workers, the lack of accountability of corporations and the unbalanced scales of justice.
Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society"---Karl Marx
Details of Gary ’s case and the OSHA “investigation” are at
http://garypuleio.blogspot.com.Thanks to blogger Mick Arran for writing about Gary at:
http://puleiotower.blogspot.com-Donna Puleio Spadaro
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