One of the nationwide trade unions, the CCOO, has expressed its indignation upon hearing of the acquittal verdict in the A-7 bridge disaster case. The tragedy, occurred in November 2005, causing the loss of six lives. Consequently, the CCOO is studying the possibility of submitting an appeal.
The General Secretary of the Granada branch of the CCOO, Ricardo Flores, considers that this judicial outcome has done no favours for the prevention of further accidents of this kind, nor has it done anything for the memory of those who perished, thanks to its failure to establish who was responsible.
He complains that the reports given by experts failed to establish exactly what happened, meaning if you can’t establish exactly what happened, you can’t attribute the blame; hence the acquittal of all those standing accused.
A regional authority for the same trade union, Francisco Ferrero, said, “It is not that the accused have won, but that the workers in general have lost.” and more specifically, he pointed out, the 700 workers who have lost their lives in Andalucia in the seven years since the accident.
Sr. Ferrero disagrees with the judge’s finding that what happened to the gigantic cementing tray (autocimbra) was ‘unforeseeable,’ because it was not the first of its kind to come loose and fall, referring to an accident in 1981 in Isla de Arosa in Galicia.
The CCOO points out that it was not only a case of documented non-completion of duties and reckless attitudes, but also the failure to carry out a safety study on procedure in unorthodox techniques not included in the operating manual, such as employing a crane. He also heavily criticised the decision to place the cement mixing structure under a bridge during construction and the total absence of an emergency plan for the evacuation of the autocimba in the case of problems.
Finally, the CCOO points out that the construction company had been fined on several previous occasions for failing in their site safety measures.
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)