Italy’s rail unions call strike on Friday over ‘shameful’ number of deaths at work
The Local ItalyAug 31, 2023
On Thursday, a speeding out-of-service train killed five nighttime track maintenance workers in northern Italy.
The workers were replacing a portion of track outside the station of Brandizzo, on the line connecting Milan and Turin, when the train carrying wagons ran over them.
Thursday's accident resulted from the lowering of safety standards to speed up development and cut costs. Considering that more than 750 Italian workers died on the job in 2020, an urgent plan of investment in safety in the workplace is required so that tragedies like this never happen again.
As the cause of Thursday's accident hasn't yet been ascertained, it would be unwise to use these tragic fatalities to play politics. Whether it was a human error, technical fault, or a communication failure, the government must prioritize victims and their families.