Unions call for collective action on workplace deaths

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 13 - The recent rash of workplace accidents and deaths in Italy are the reflection of a country that fails to fully come to terms with the culture of prevention and the guarantee of health and safety in every workplace, trades union leaders said in a letter to President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday.
    "The increase in accidents and occupational diseases are not numbers: they show us the harsh reality of a country that fails to fully come to terms with the culture of prevention, with the guarantee of health and safety in every workplace," wrote Maurizio Landini, Luigi Sbarra and PierPaolo Bombardieri, respectively the secretaries of trades union confederations CGIL, CISL and UIL.
    "It is not only a cultural problem, there is a ruthless market logic that considers safety a cost and not an investment," they continued.
    "We presented a specific unified platform to the government but have not received adequate answers.
    "It is time for extraordinary joint action to achieve the goal of zero deaths at work," said the union leaders.
    On Wednesday three workers died in an explosion at the Esplodenti Sabino plant in the Abruzzo town of Casalbordino.
    The accident came on the heels of a recent rash of work-related deaths, including the death of five rail maintenance workers who were hit by a train and killed while replacing tracks at Brandizzo station near Turin on the night of August 30.
    Investigators suspect that they began work in the knowledge that a train could arrive on the line. (ANSA).