Expand<\/a><\/p>\nThe annual event is held ahead of the PennDOT\u2019s construction season, which is projected to be busy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 11 names on this stone, our fellow coworkers, made the ultimate sacrifice.\u00a0 And we will never forget them,\u201d PennDOT Engineering District 4 Executive Jonathan A. Eboli said.<\/p>\n
Each lost worker was represented at the event by a hard hat and vest, in addition to a keystone-shaped memorial etched with the names of the fallen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to talk about work zone safety and distracted driving because we never want to add another hard hat and vest to this memorial,\u201d Eboli said.<\/p>\n
Eric Schubert, of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union, said the event was a grim reminder.<\/p>\n
He pointed out PennDOT employees and other public sector workers are not covered by federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations and so lack federal workplace safety protections.<\/p>\n
\u2018Slow down, put your devices down, pay attention\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSlow down, put your devices down, buckle up and pay attention,\u201d Eboli said. \u201cWork zones are temporary. Actions taken behind the wheel can be forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
State Sen. Marty Flynn pointed out work zones can be just feet away from drivers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re counting on drivers to slow down and pay attention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lonell Tomaine, assistant district executive of the maintenance division for PennDOT\u2019s District 4, said workers will be fixing bridges, paving roads and maintaining infrastructure across the state to make roads safer for drivers.<\/p>\n
She stressed the importance of drivers putting their phone down and keeping their heads up, paying attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about the families behind the hard hats, commit to driving with care and staying alert,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0 District 4\u00a0 keystone-shaped memorial on display at PennDOT district headquarters is carved with the words, \u201cWork Zone Safety Saves Lives,\u201d and \u201cDedicated To District 4-0 Fallen Workers,\u201d and contains the names of 11 workers who lost their lives in the district from 1975 through 2001. Those include:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Joseph Caviston Sr., Lackawanna County, April 18, 1975.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Donald L. Martin, Pike County, June 23, 1977.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Mark Harer, Wayne County, Oct. 17, 1977.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Elmer Swetland, Susquehanna County, Jan. 8, 1979.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Patrick F. DiGiovine, Lackawanna County, Jan. 31, 1980.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Duane C. Hall, Susquehanna County, April 5, 1980.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ralph M. Cornell, Luzerne County, Dec. 20, 1987.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Vincent Matylewicz, Lackawanna County, Sept. 29, 1997.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Jeff L. Teske, District 4, Oct. 20, 1997.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Richard Dawson, Luzerne County, Dec. 21, 1999.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Richard Bradley, Luzerne County, May 14, 2001.<\/p>\n
\u201cPennDOT is proud to stand with our partners in safety today to remember those that have made the ultimate sacrifice while working for PennDOT,\u201d Eboli said. \u201cEvery hard hat and vest you see here today symbolizes our efforts to memorialize our coworkers who died on the job \u2013 working for the 13 million Pennsylvanians that count on us every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staff writer James Lockwood contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 1972, 11 PennDOT District 4 employees who went to work in the morning planning to return home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,803,139,28,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-178579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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