President Sergio Mattarella on Sunday
decried the "intolerable and painful sequence of deaths and
accidents at work" and called for "urgent and rigorous
investigation" into workplace safety.
"Dying in factories, in the fields, in any workplace is an
unacceptable scandal for a civilised country, an unbearable
burden on our consciences, especially when we discover that
rules and procedures have not been applied or have been applied
incorrectly," said Mattarella in a statement for the 73rd
national day for victims of accidents at work.
"Safety is not a cost, nor is it a luxury: it is a duty
corresponding to the inalienable right of every person," he
continued, calling for a collective commitment from the
institutions, employers, trade unions, workers, and training
establishments "so that a real culture of prevention might take
hold everywhere".
Meanwhile, the Italian national association of mutilated and
invalid workers (ANMIL) on Sunday denounced a "silent massacre"
in Italy, with three work-related deaths and more than
work-related 2,000 injuries every day.
This, said the organisation, is on a par with numbers registered
in 2008, the year in which parliament approved a consolidated
law on safety in the workplace.
"The accident in Brandizzo has rekindled media and public
attention to deaths at work, which are often spoken about only
on the most sensational occasions," said ANMIL President Zoello
Forni, referring to the rail disaster near Turin at the end of
August in which five railway maintenance workers were killed.
"Instead, a silent massacre takes place before our eyes on a
daily basis," he added.
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