Fincantieri asbestos convictions upheld - update

(ANSA) - Rome, November 21 - The supreme Cassation Court on Friday upheld the manslaughter convictions of three former executives at publicly-held Fincantieri shipbuilders in the asbestos-related deaths of 37 workers. Luciano Lemetti, Giuseppe Cortesi and Antonio Cipponeri were convicted in 2012, with prison sentences ranging from 32 months to four years. The Court of Cassation reduced the sentences slightly and upheld compensation to relatives, FIOM metalworkers union, INAIL workmen's comp fund, and Legambiente environmental group.
    Surviving workers testified they worked without face masks and defective extractor fans, and were told to simply sweep the asbestos dust off the floor of the plant, when it should have been disposed of safely.
    The company also reportedly failed to provide a cleaning service for work garments, which employees washed at home. As was the case of Angelo Morfo, who died of asbestos-related cancer just a few months before his wife, Calogera Gulino, who contracted the same disease while washing her husband's clothes.