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A number of fatal accidents in the Spanish shipbuilding and constructions sectors in May-June 2005 have led to strong protests by trade unions, which allege failure to comply with the Occupational Risk Prevention Law.
Five workers died in the shipbuilding and construction sectors in late May and early June 2005. On 3 and 4 June, workers went on strike and demonstrated in the cities of El Ferrol, Marín and Vigo. These workers and the trade unions called for compliance with the Occupational Risk Prevention Law (Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales) and stated that 'the Public Prosecutor's Office should coordinate its action with the Labour Inspectorate and employers that fail to comply with the Law must be tried in the criminal or civil courts' .
According to the unions, many companies indeed fail to comply with the Law in relation to health and safety training, information and risk assessment and the need to discontinue work in cases of risk. There are also said to be too few labour inspectors to enforce compliance, so a regulation that is considered appropriate by the experts and the trade unions has proven to be ineffective. Another perceived problem is that serious infringements do not lead to exemplary sanctions. Furthermore, the structure of recruitment is regarded as fostering additional situations of risk. For example, several of the workers who died recently while cleaning a tank containing lethal gases were temporary workers. The permanent workers at the company concerned would have been able to foresee the risk as a result of their experience and training, it is claimed. The lack of sanctions is said to encourage employers to employ temporary workers without proper training, who are cheaper than stable workers.
According to figures provided by the Galician Multi-Union Confederation (Confederación Intersindical Gallega, CIGA), which regards fighting industrial accidents as a major challenge, there are still many fatal accidents in the Galicia region, though the number has been falling slowly: 124, 99, 102, 94 and 87 in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 respectively. However, the 40 fatal accidents in the first five months of 2005 indicate that no improvement is to be expected in the figures this year.
The demonstrations in Vigo, which were widely reported in the media, underlined again persistent concerns that Spain is the country with the lowest level of industrial safety in the European Union. The trade unions state that further action must be taken, arguing that the high temporary employment rate and the lack of control of subcontracting, a failure to inspect companies and their relative impunity in cases of accidents are factors that must be changed in order to achieve a safer working environment.
Source: Eironline
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