20 November 2007

The social evil of work deaths

With a background of general indifference, every day one or more people die while they are at work, the so-called workplace fatalities.
The scale of this social evil is such that it could be considered a true emergency for the whole country. In 2007 it’s estimated there were 1400 people who died at work and tens of thousands of injured, often causing permanent invalidity.
It’s evident that what has been done so far, both at the level of legislation and in the way of greater efficacy in the controls that this Government has put in place, even though they are a step in the right direction, are not enough. Further measures must be put in place as soon as possible. These must include increasing the number of inspectors, as today there are not enough (in fact many companies never get a visit), and a different way of managing the contracting by the Public Administration. Activities are often handed over by the Public Administration and by companies with public participation to contracting companies who in turn contract them out to others and so on. This is done without any real control.
The last company in the chain is the least costly, but also the one that is least equipped. It often has underpaid workers, often not on the books, and it is the one that is most exposed to fatal accidents and unfortunately these often happen.
The Public Administration does not answer for these fatalities, but in reality it is responsible.
I propose that this chain of contractors and subcontractors starting with the Public Administration is limited. Furthermore, I propose that the civic responsibility for the accidents remains with the Public Administration that could in the end claim damages from the contractors.
PS. Today sees the creation of the new Newsletter of the party. For those who want to sign up to it and read the article, I’m giving a link to the Italia dei Valori website. The box in the top right-hand corner can be used to sign up to the future editions of the Newsletter.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Work