Pope Francis, along with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, called for “further efforts by those responsible for protecting workers” following the worker’s death.
Saturday 17 February 2024 17:39 UK
Part of a building collapsed at a construction site in Italy, killing five workers and seriously injuring three others.
Concrete beams and slabs collapsed on the site of a new supermarket in Florence on Friday morning, leaving around eight workers trapped under the rubble.
On Saturday, the president of Tuscany, which makes up Florence, confirmed that a fifth body had been recovered as rescue teams continued a “complex” operation to rescue people trapped under rubble. .
According to Italian media, the five victims were an Italian man, three Moroccans and one Tunisian.
Three other people pulled from the rubble were taken to hospital in critical condition, but their injuries were not life-threatening.
After conducting a preliminary assessment of the scene, officials said the accident was caused by a “structural collapse” of the concrete beam, which could have been caused by a flaw in its construction.
Florence prosecutors have ordered an investigation into the collapse.
Pope Francis joined Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other Italian officials on Saturday to express grief over the deaths and called for “further efforts by those responsible for protecting workers.”
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Marina Caprotti, president of supermarket chain Esselunga, also expressed her condolences. She said construction work on the new store was outsourced to a third party.
According to the statistics agency Eurostat, workplace accidents are extremely common in Italy, with 601 workplace deaths reported nationally in 2021 and 435 in 2022, the highest in the European Union. This is the second highest number after France.
According to Maurizio Landini, leader of Italy’s CGIL trade union, 1,000 people will die at work in 2023.
This is scheduled for February 21, with CGIL and UIL, another of Italy’s largest trade unions, accusing the excessive use of subcontracting to lower wages, safety, training and working conditions on construction sites. It all started with a call for a two-hour strike during the protests.
“We are tired of hearing condolences. We must put labor and safety at the center of political attention to get concrete solutions from the places most at risk, such as construction sites. “We must do so,” the union said.