Tarrytown Loses Appeal in Manhole Fatalities Case

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March 5, 2015

| by Rick Pezzullo |

The Village of Tarrytown recently lost an appeal of a state Department of Labor ruling that it violated safety regulations in the Labor Day 2010 manhole accident that claimed the lives of a village DPW employee and a volunteer firefighter.

However, it remains unclear what the ramifications are of the January 29 decision in the Second Department of the state Appellate Division since Village Manager Michael Blau maintained he was unable to comment since the families of Anthony Ruggiero, Jr. and John Kelly have wrongful death lawsuits pending against the village.

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It’s the second time the village has lost in challenging a determination by the Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau of the Department of Labor that it failed to implement a written confined safety program while it required workers to enter confined spaces; nor did it inform employees they were not to enter confined spaces.

On September 6, 2010, Ruggiero, 47, a DPW foreman, succumbed to fumes after descending into a manhole behind Consolidated Engine Company’s firehouse to clear debris from a clogged sewer pipe. Kelly, 51, attempted to rescue Ruggiero but also was overcome. Both men died of asphyxiation.

Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell said village officials were made aware following the fatal accident that safety rules for confined spaces needed to be tightened up.

“We clearly recognized there were shortcomings in how confined spaces were being carried out,” he said. “The notion that it was willful as a village as a whole was not correct.”

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