The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is fining the EVRAZ steel mill in Pueblo $61,711 for safety violations discovered in the investigation of a worker’s death in 2024.
Taylor Blake Gulliford, 26, was killed on August 9, 2024, while performing maintenance on a large piece of rail-making machinery known as a stamp wheel. The OSHA investigation report said Gulliford had not locked down the heavy machine while working and the stamp wheel assembly unexpectedly moved. Gullifort suffered severe injuries when he was pinned between the stamp wheel and a guardrail. He died at the scene.
Fines for EVRAZ were levied for four separate code violations, with each totaling between $13,005 and $16,550. The OSHA inspection found the company did not have adequate protocols or training for its employees to power down and safely lock the stamp wheel in place.
According to his obituary, Gulliford was survived by his wife and four sons.
EVRAZ did not respond to a request for comment from CPR News.
Steelmaking in Pueblo dates back to the late 1800s. The mill, originally owned and operated by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, changed hands several times before it was acquired by the multinational corporation Evraz in 2007. However, the legal entity CF&I Steel, L.P. is still used in official documents and regulatory findings, such as the OSHA Investigation.
The EVRAZ website claims the Pueblo mill is “the largest producer of premium and standard rail in North America.”
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