Dead worker at the Farnesina, disqualification measure for the company administrator

An interdicting measure was carried out against the employer of Fabio Palotti, the worker who died on April 27 in an accident at work, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The carabinieri of the Roma Ponte Milvio station, together with the staff of the judicial police section – Hygiene and Work inspectorate of piazzale Clodio, have carried out an order that prohibits the exercise of managerial offices of legal persons and companies for six months, issued by judge for preliminary investigations, at the request of the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office, against the sole director of the company in charge, under subcontracting, of the maintenance of the lifts inside the Farnesina. The recipient of the disqualification measure is seriously suspected of manslaughter against the worker who intervened for the maintenance of an elevator, committed with the aggravating circumstance of having violated the sector regulations in the field of accident prevention at work. The investigations by the carabinieri of the Roma Trionfale company, in collaboration with the Judicial Police Section – Hygiene and Labor Inspectorate of the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office and ASL Roma 2, started on 28 April after the discovery, in the elevator shaft, of the body of the worker who had lost his life following a maintenance intervention on an elevator system installed in the office wing of the building. In particular, it has been ascertained that, after having opened the doors with the key supplied to the maintenance staff and having stopped the cabin at the height useful for the intervention to be carried out, the maintenance operator has omitted to insert the lock lever of the lift in the position “inspection”: the lift was thus put into operation while the worker was on the roof, getting stuck between the car and the wall of the shaft, before falling into the pit. The investigations, coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Giovanni Conzo, made it possible to acquire serious clues about the carrying out of repeated conduct of negligence, inexperience and imprudence, by the employer and consisted in assigning the employee to the duties of maintenance lifts and hoists , specialized only in the technological supervision service, even though he lacked the technical / professional requirements and was not adequately trained and trained for the specific intervention and maintenance activity to which he had in fact been delegated. It was also ascertained that, as part of the risk assessment document, the prescribed report concerning all the risks for safety and health during work was not prepared, with particular reference to the intervention and maintenance phases and procedures. and installation of the elevators and the failure to adopt a suitable operational safety plan, with reference to the single site concerned. Furthermore, serious circumstantial elements were acquired on the fact that the employee had not been subjected to the prescribed periodic health surveillance as the previous certificate of specific suitability for the job had expired on 10 February 2020. In summary, according to what was ascertained by the investigations, the ‘worker would have operated in the absence of any reference and awareness of the risks associated with the work of lift operator carried out by the contractor and therefore death represents, according to the reconstruction of the judge of the preliminary investigations, the realization of the risk that the precautionary rules violated they aimed to avoid. The judge for the preliminary investigations also highlighted the concrete and current danger of recurrence, in particular the danger of further injuries, even with a fatal outcome, to the detriment of the employees of the company when carrying out the duties of lift operators, taking into account the multiple violations of the law. on workplace safety. The judge also recognized the danger of probative pollution, which can be inferred from the presentation by the suspect, following an exhibition order issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, of a copy of a certificate of qualification for the maintenance of lifts or freight elevators, objectively obtained “False”, because it was never issued by the Prefecture.