Until August 31st there will be no work during the hottest hours. This is established by the ordinance of the President of the Region, Roberto Occhiutoadopted to guarantee the safety and health of workers in the agricultural and horticultural sector, as well as on construction sites and similar, prohibiting work between 12.30 pm and 4 pm.
The ordinance arrived shortly after the appeal by Fai Cisl, Filca Cisl Calabria, to the president to prohibit work activities during the hottest hours.
«In a period marked by the arrival of sultry heat, it is necessary to immediately prohibit, again this year, for workers in the agricultural and construction sectors, who work mainly outdoors, any work activity that takes place during the hottest hours », said the regional General Secretaries Michele Sapia (Do Cisl) e Christian Demasi (Filca Cisl), underlining how «considered the high temperatures of these days and the continuous climate changes, we asked to confirm this choice to ban those outdoor activities as already done since 2021, but this year it is necessary to bring forward the times”.
«Unfortunately – they recalled – Calabria is in the red zone for workplace deaths, as certified by the Vega Engineering Workplace Safety and Environment Observatory of Mestre, with 268 victims in the first four months of the year, an incidence of more than +25%. compared to the national average of white deaths. But also injuries and accidents at work, particularly in the construction and agricultural sectors where it is essential to guarantee greater safety, greater prevention and training, support bilateralism and facilitate contract renewals.”
«We need to intensify – they reiterated – controls in the area, combat poor and irregular work in the agricultural and construction sectors, for which there is a need for more discussion and to intensify synergies to promote quality work. Health and safety in the workplace is for the CISL, at all levels, a real battle of civilization, as demonstrated by the various proposals, union initiatives and results achieved, most recently the points-based driving license”.
Satisfaction was expressed by Simone Celebregeneral secretary of Fillea Cgil Calabriahoping and asking «that all companies do their part and that there is, throughout the regional territory, maximum control by the Territorial Labor Inspectorates (ITL) on the correct application of the ordinance to avoid its distorted use» .
«The president of the regional council, Roberto Occhiuto, last Saturday – he said -, after various requests from us, with his own ordinance issued the guidelines against the risk of heat in the workplace. The president’s ordinance, strongly requested by Fillea Cgil Calabria, aims to protect workers by imposing a ban on working in conditions of prolonged exposure to the sun, from 12.30 to 16.00, with immediate effect and until 31 August 2024, on the entire regional territory. The ban applies in areas or areas affected by the carrying out of work in the agricultural and horticultural sector, as well as on construction sites and similar, limited only to the days in which the risk map indicated on the Workclimate website refers to: workers exposed to the sun with physical activity intense at 12.00, signals a high level of risk”.
«President Occhiuto’s ordinance, therefore, takes note – he continued – as we have repeatedly supported publicly, of the need, in conditions of prolonged exposure to the sun, to reduce the impact of environmental thermal stress on health and, therefore, risks to which personnel are exposed, thus avoiding seriously harmful consequences. Like Fillea Cgil Calabria, in saying we are satisfied with the ordinance issued by President Occhiuto, we believe that this, however, must also be extended to workers in other sectors such as those workers who carry out significant physical activity or who are engaged in closed environments without adequate ventilation”.
«In consideration of the increasingly frequent torrid summers and, above all, climate changes which determine increasingly significant repercussions on health and safety at work – he continued – we believe it is necessary that thermal stress is no longer considered extraordinary and that, therefore, it is a structural regulatory intervention by the National Government is essential which definitively recognizes for workers in the construction supply chain access to the ordinary redundancy fund for climatic events, outside the counter of the maximum 52 weeks currently envisaged and provides automatic protections for all types of workers, employees and self-employed, with the obligation for companies to remodulate timetables and workloads through specific agreements with the RSU and the Trade Unions with particular attention to small companies”. (rcz)
