After the pain, the anger. “Either things change or we will continue with the mobilizations to the bitter end,” warn the unions. Hundreds took to the streets to participate in the the general strike lasted four hours and the workers’ strike lasted eight in Casteldaccia, in the province of Palermo, where yesterday five workers died due to gas fumes in a sewage tank. The conditions of the sixth worker, Domenico Viola, remain very serious.
“Stop this war, this carnage” is the cry heard in the streets. The garrison in front of the Prefecture was proclaimed yesterday by the provincial secretariats of Fillea, Filca and Feneal for the construction workers, and by CGIL, CISL and UIL for all the other sectors. «We ask for more checks, more checks, more inspections. Hiring inspectors and prevention technicians”, stated the leader of the CISL, Luigi Sbarra. And he underlined: «At work you have to be safe, behind these casualties there are certainly responsibilities that need to be ascertained and omissions that need to be verified. This is why the judiciary must shed full light as soon as possible. We will continue with our mobilization in companies and territories until there is real change in all workplaces.” The general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, is also very harsh: «What kills is the system of contracts, subcontracts and precariousness. A business model based on contracts, subcontracts and precariousness is a model that kills.”
Omissions that actually appear to have occurred. The safety devices and conditions that probably could have avoided this latest accident were missing. The provincial commander of the Palermo fire brigade, Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra, is certain of this: «This tragedy would not have occurred if all the necessary and foreseen precautions had been taken». In an attempt to help each other, they were suffocated by hydrogen sulphide, a product of the fermentation of sewage in the tank of the wastewater lifting plant in Via Nazionale of Amap, the company that manages the sewerage and water pipes of the Sicilian capital. From what we learn, the poisonous gas in the tunnels was present in a concentration ten times higher than the limits.
«These deaths are a social defeat, a wound that affects everyone – declared the archbishop of Palermo, Corrado Lorefice -. We cannot resign ourselves to accidents at work, we cannot be indifferent.” Expressing “feelings of closeness and condolences” to the families of the five victims and the injured – one of whom, Domenico Viola, 62 years old, still in very serious conditions in hospital – the archbishop underlines that “security means an economy and a job market governed by the ethical requirement, attention to the person of the worker, to his dignity and his family affections”, concludes Lorefice. Launching a “strong appeal for safety in the workplace” and “hoping for a greater commitment from those who have the responsibility – legislators, businesses, organizations and trade associations – to protect workers”.
“Condolences” for the victims and “closeness” to their families were also expressed by the national Presidency of Italian Catholic Action. «We denounce the lack of protection and prevention measures by public and private entities, underlining how the events in Casteldaccia re-propose the absolute imperative of stringent interventions and controls for workplace safety and to break the dramatic chain of deaths», of law in a note. Starting with “seriously applying Legislative Decree 81/08, which regulates health and safety at work”, by “growing a culture of safety, starting from the shared awareness that investing in safety is not a cost but an investment on the future of the company and its workers.”
The victims were all found without protection and masks. This is Epifanio Alsazia, 71 years old from Partinico, co-owner of the company Quadrifoglio group srl of Partinico, who had won the contract from Amap and the workers Giuseppe Miraglia, 47 years old, originally from San Cipirello (Palermo), Roberto Raneri, 51 years of Alcamo (Trapani), Ignazio Giordano, 59 years old (Partinico) and of the internal Amap worker Giuseppe La Barbera, 28 years old, from Palermo.
Four colleagues survived. The most serious is Domenico Viola, 62 years old, who survived the night but whose condition remains very serious. He is currently hospitalized at the Palermo Polyclinic, where he is intubated and ventilated, in very serious respiratory distress. Viola was the last to enter the tunnels and the first to be rescued by the firefighters. As for the other workers, the conditions do not cause concern. Paolo Sciortino, 35 years old, suffered mild intoxication while Giovanni Scavuzzo, 39 years old, and Giovanni D’Aleo, 44 years old, also suffered illness due to the shock and their conditions do not cause concern.
