According to Inail data processed by the CGIL Genoa and Liguria economic office, as of 30 April 2024 there were 452 reports of workplace accidents in Liguria in the construction sector, an increase of 105 compared to the same period last year. «Safety at work is an emergency in Liguria too. We have created many synergies between all the subjects involved in this delicate matter and the objective is to make a qualitative leap in prevention, information and controls”, says Federico Pezzoli, general secretary of Fillea-Cgil Genoa and Liguria. «Unfortunately, fatal accidents also continue to occur: in the five-year period 2018-2022 there were 26 workplace victims in the construction sector, none in 2023, while a 57-year-old worker from the province of Savona lost his life on 5 February. We need to change the procurement system and a business model that removes responsibility – declares Alessandro Genovesi, general secretary of the national Fillea-Cgil – if the issue is the business model, more levers are needed: cultural, political, regulatory. Everything that qualifies the company, that acts as a deterrent and raises legality must be done. This is why the referendums promoted by the CGIL are important, starting with the one to extend the liability of clients in the event of accidents at work involving contracted employees. And for this reason agreements such as those signed in Rome for the Jubilee works or in Bologna and Florence are fundamental: keeping together the quality of the company, compliance with the construction collective bargaining agreements, reduction of subcontracting, governance of actual timetables, responsibility of the clients and legality is all ‘one with the protection of the health and safety of workers. Even in Genoa and Liguria it would be a concrete signal to replicate such important agreements and perhaps, as in the case of Florence, not only to set a good example as public contracting authorities, but also to intervene in private contracts, which are often real jungles”.
According to the latest Inail findings, in the first quarter of 2024 in Liguria, there is one death every twenty days. The general secretary of CGIL Liguria Maurizio Calà recalled that there is a direct responsibility of companies and institutions that do not invest in health and safety at work. «Politics must take charge of this national emergency which must be countered with all possible tools, many of which are contained in the union proposals presented to the government and completely disregarded».
