A white cloud and a dull noise flood a street in Madrid. When the dust dissolves, the figure of the worker clearly appears, 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,” unions warn about silica particles, warning that “unfortunately” the scene is not so strange to discover.
“Despite what employers say, we see widespread non-compliance with the Occupational Risk Prevention Act,” says Mariano Sanz, CCOO Confederal Secretary for Occupational Health and Environmental Sustainability.
“Unfortunately, this is normal,” recognizes Pilar Ituero, responsible for occupational health at FICA UGT. Especially in small companies, without worker representation, and on construction sites in which the large company subcontracts the work to one contractor “and that in turn to another subcontractor and another subcontractor” . “Ultimately, this leads us to workers who lack prevention measures and training,” 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 media was able to verify on three different days, at different points and which affected several workers.
This is the redevelopment of the Paseo de Usera towards the Río de Madrid, commissioned by the Madrid City Council, which was the subject of a call for tenders and was awarded for a value of just over two million euros, thanks to funding from the European Recovery and Resilience Fund.
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 site there are staff from many different subcontractors, as unions warn is common in the sector.
A more than known risk: cancer and silicosis
“Silica dust constitutes a more than proven occupational risk,” explains Mariano Sanz, since it is recognized as a carcinogen and also responsible for silicosis. Both pathologies are on the rise, with more and more sick workers, instead of reducing pathologies, as should happen and is happening for many other occupational diseases. “Prevention is clearly failing,” emphasize the unions.
There is particular vigilance 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 will far exceed 500 cases”, warns CCOO. Until October, 436 occupational illnesses due to exposure to silica dust and 15 cancers for this reason were reported. It is the second cause of occupational cancer, behind asbestos (47), and in this case it faces a major problem of under-declaration, indicate the unions.
Due to this proven danger, silica dust requires a series of preventive measures to protect workers, which must be adapted to each case. In this situation detected by elDiario.es, cutting granite outdoors, CCOO explains that due to the lack of localized extraction installation, it must 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 the aspiration of silica dust, as well as eye protection, to prevent the entry of particles or shards, and hearing protection.
The municipal council led by José Luis Martínez-Almeida was told that “as with any other job, the municipal council appoints a health and safety coordinator”. In the specific case of this work, “the said coordinator demanded the adoption of protective measures for cutting pieces of granite or prefabricated materials,” indicate these sources.
According to the city council, in response to its request, the contractor placed a cutting table with water outside the work at the start of the work in order to make most of the necessary cuts. “On the job site, only small cuts are made for precise adjustments to the placement of a part,” they indicate.
City council holds workers accountable
These “punctual” outages on the construction site, like the one detected by elDiario.es, in any case require personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers, which they were not wearing during 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 their responsibility,” responds Madrid City Hall.
In the scenes viewed by this media outlet, there was a worker covering 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 contractors on the ground and these sources stressed that they are not providing PPE to staff.
The main company, the Ortiz Group, responds for its part that the works “have a safety and health plan”, which envisages wet cutting for the majority of cuts of stone materials. Concerning 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”. The multinational indicates that this protective equipment “must be provided by the corresponding subcontractor”.
Although the City Hall and the Ortiz Group assured that the preventive measures were respected, they added that they would act “in the event of non-compliance”. After elDiario.es consulted the Town Hall and the main company, carried out on November 4, the workers carry out the cuts with protective glasses and masks, as this media was able to verify.
Towards integrated and effective prevention
The majority unions warn that “the employer is responsible” for guaranteeing the safety of staff. Even if we assume that a worker has not donned the available prevention equipment, due to lack of knowledge or negligence, the company’s mission is to “guarantee the safety” of their work, according to CCOO and UGT.
The worker representatives, however, emphasize that the non-compliances they detect most often respond to outsourced prevention, which is not supposed to be a priority and whose aim is to comply more to save the file or a fine of Inspection only to actually execute it. “And the Labor Inspectorate cannot cope, so all this is the breeding ground for the accident data we have,” denounces Pilar Ituero.
For its part, the construction employers’ union CNC assures that companies and the sector are doing “everything possible to ensure that companies have all the information and training” in terms of prevention and ensuring that “safety is a priority”. They recall that employers participate with unions in the Construction Labor Foundation, which finances companies with an additional contribution.
In addition, projects such as the “on-site visits program” stand out, with “14,000 visits this year”, in which delegations from the foundation visit the sites of small businesses – aware that they are the ones presenting the no more deficiencies – to note “possible incidents”. and “advise on site» to companies on the improvements to be applied.
