A white cloud and a loud cutting sound flood a street in Madrid. When the dust dissolves, the figure of the worker clearly emerges, with the tool in hand to cut a block of granite and without any type of protection for the maneuver. No mask, no glasses, no hearing protection. Nothing. “This dust can cause cancer,” the unions warn about the silica particles and warn that “unfortunately” the scene is not that strange to find.
“Despite what employers say, we see very widespread non-compliance with the occupational risk prevention law,” says Mariano Sanz, confederal secretary of Occupational Health and Environmental Sustainability of CCOO.
“Unfortunately, it is normal,” agrees Pilar Ituero, head of FICA UGT Occupational Health. Above all, in small companies, without worker representation, and in construction works in which the large company outsources work to a contractor “and that in turn to another subcontractor and another subcontractor.” “In the end, this leads us to working people with a lack of prevention and training measures” among them, laments Ituero.
The cutting of granite without protections detected by elDiario.es was repeated in the same public works in the capital on several occasions, at least between October 21 and November 4, as this medium was able to verify on three different days, at points different and that affected several workers.
This is the remodeling of the Paseo de Usera towards the Madrid Río, commissioned by the Madrid City Council, which was put out to tender and awarded for a value of just over two million euros, with financing from the European Recovery and Resilience Funds.
The winning company is the Ortiz Group, a large construction company with 32.5 million euros in profits in 2023, almost double that of a year before (13.7 million euros). However, on the job site, there are personnel from many different subcontractors, as unions warn is common in the sector.
A more than well-known risk: cancer and silicosis
“Silica dust is a more than proven occupational risk,” explains Mariano Sanz, since it is recognized as a carcinogen and also responsible for causing silicosis. Both pathologies are on the rise, with more and more sick workers, instead of reducing pathologies, as should happen and happens in many other occupational diseases. “Prevention is clearly failing,” the unions emphasize.
There is special alert in the case of silicosis, which is easier to detect and recognize as an occupational disease. In 2000, 15 cases were recorded and this year “we are going to go well above 500 cases,” CCOO warns. Until October, there were 436 occupational diseases reported due to exposure to silica dust and 15 cancers for this reason. It is the second cause of occupational cancer, behind asbestos (47), and in this case it does face a major problem of underreporting, indicate the unions.
Due to this established danger, silica dust entails a series of preventive measures to protect workers, which must be adapted to each case. In this situation detected by elDiario.es, of cutting granite outdoors, CCOO explains that since there is no localized extraction facility, it should be cut wet, on a bench that launches a jet of water at the cutting point. to reduce dust emission. In addition, with respiratory protection against aspiration of silica dust, as well as eye protection, to prevent particles or splinters from entering, and hearing protection.
In the City Council led by José Luis Martínez-Almeida, they respond that, “as in any other work, the City Council appoints a health and safety coordinator.” In the specific case of these works, “said coordinator has demanded the adoption of protective measures for cutting pieces of granite or prefabricated materials,” these sources indicate.
According to the City Council, in response to its request, the contractor placed a cutting table with water outside the work at the beginning of the work to make most of the necessary cuts. “On the job, only small cuts are made for specific adjustments to the placement of a piece,” they indicate.
The City Council holds the workers responsible
These “punctual” cuts on the job site, such as the one detected by elDiario.es, require in any case personal protective equipment (PPE) for the workers, which the workers were not wearing in the observations carried out by this means. “The operators have the necessary protective equipment provided by the successful bidder, so if an operator does not put on the protective equipment on time, it is his or her responsibility,” the Madrid City Council responds.
In the scenes viewed by this medium, there was a worker who covered his mouth and nose with homemade measures, such as a cloth handkerchief and a surgical mask, like those used during the COVID pandemic. According to sources consulted on site, there are workers from many different subcontractors on the ground and these sources pointed out that they did not provide PPE to the staff.
The main company, the Ortiz Group, responds for its part that the work “has a Safety and Health Plan”, which contemplates wet cutting for the majority of the cutting of stone material. For the risks of specific cuts on public roads, Ortiz explains that the PPE “are identified” and “the workers of the contractor who carries them out are informed of them.” The multinational indicates that this protective equipment “must be provided by the corresponding subcontractor.”
Although the City Council and the Ortiz Group assured that the preventive measures were complied with, they added that they would act “in case of non-compliance.” After elDiario.es consulted the City Council and the main company, carried out on November 4, the workers are carrying out the cuts with protective glasses and masks, as this medium has been able to verify.
Go to integrated and effective prevention
The majority unions warn that “the employer is responsible” for guaranteeing the safety of the workforce. Even if it were assumed that a worker did not put on the available prevention equipment, due to lack of knowledge or neglect, the company’s mission is to “guarantee the safety” of their jobs, according to CCOO and UGT.
The workers’ representatives point out, however, that the non-compliance they detect mostly responds to externalized prevention, which is not assumed to be a priority and the aim is to comply more to save the file or a fine from the Inspection than to actually execute it. . “And the Labor Inspection cannot cope, so all of this is the breeding ground for the accident data we have,” denounces Pilar Ituero.
For its part, the CNC construction employers’ association assures that companies and the sector do “everything possible so that companies have all the information and training” on preventive matters and assure that “safety is a priority.” They remember that the employers participate together with the unions in the Construction Labor Foundation, which finances the companies with an additional contribution.
In addition, projects such as “the site visit program” stand out, with “14,000 visits this year”, in which the foundation’s delegations visit small business sites – aware that they are the ones with the most deficiencies – to see “possible incidents” and “advise on site” to companies about the improvements to be applied.
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