ASBESTOS IN ENEL POWER STATIONS IN SICILY: THE MESSINA COURT ORDERS INAIL TO RECOGNIZE GIOVANNI GIANNETTO’S OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE. THE EMPLOYEE WAS EXPOSED TO ASBESTOS FOR 30 YEARS DURING MAINTENANCE WORK AT ENEL PLANTS, AS AN EMPLOYEE OF CONTRACTING COMPANIES
The labor judge of the Court of Messina, Dr. Graziella Bellino, did that convicted INAIL recognizes the occupational disease related to asbestos exposure in a former ENEL employee. Giovanni Giannetto, 66 years old, originally from Nizza di Sicilia (ME), suffers from chronic bronchopathy, microplaques of the diaphragm and pulmonary fibrosis.
The man was exposed to asbestos directly, after using heat-resistant gloves containing the material, and indirect exposure due to environmental contamination resulting frommassive use of asbestos such as insulation and covering systems.
The Office Technical Consultant (CTU) has determined that Giannetto has a “Chronic obstructive bronchopathy in a patient with pulmonary micronodules, left diaphragmatic microplaques and pulmonary fibrosis,” whereby a disability percentage of 6% is recognized, starting from the date of submission of the administrative application.
In 2018, Giannetto submitted a request to the INAIL for recognition of the occupational disease. After the institution’s refusal, he turned to the court, assisted by the lawyer. Ezio Bonannichairman ofNational Asbestos Observatory.
Giannetto worked in maintenance for 30 years, both as a professional and as an employee of contractors of ENEL power plants. Among these, San Filippo del Mela, Termini Imerese, Augusta, Priolo and Porto Empedocle. The Valle del Mela power plant, like that of Milazzo, is considered a Site of National Interest (SIN) due to the high level of pollution.
The CTU denies the INAIL advisor’s report
During the trial, the CTU rejected INAIL’s objections. THEThe organization’s consultant did not take the instrumental tests into account which shows that there has been injury as a result of exposure to asbestos.
The expert witness, the sentence states, concluded that “It is therefore a disease that in its current clinical form can be adequately assessed, in terms of permanent disability, for an extent of 6%, as provided for in the tables accompanying the Ministerial Decree of July 12, 2000, attributable to code 332 – anatomical damage attributable to parenchymal nodules in their absence or with subtle functional consequences”.
The Court confirms the causal relationship between the disease and the exposure to kill fibers in the workplace, ordered INAIL to compensate Giannetto with 10,000 euros for the biological damage.
“In the light of the higher assessment, supported by adequate motivation and fully shared, the appellant should be granted the right to compensation for biological damage in the amount of 6%, with the consequent ordering of the INAIL to pay the corresponding amount, plus monetary revaluation. and legal interests, being a social security credit, pursuant to sentence No. 156/1991 of the Constitutional Court”, says the device.
Data on asbestos victims in Sicily
“Following this judgment, we will now take action for compensation for the damages and against INPS to obtain the increased pension – announces Bonanni, who remembers that – the ONA in Sicily, of mesotheliomas alone, that is to say the sentinel pathology, has registered about 1,850 cases from 1998 to today and that the mortality rate of this neoplasm in the first five years is equal to 93% with about 1,720 deaths, an There come 3,500 for lung cancer and another 1,000 for other asbestos-related diseases, for a total of more than 6,200 deaths. Dramatic figures, which repeat themselves every year, without anything being done about the problem.”
Biancavilla and the fluorine-edenite mine
Among the Sicilian areas most affected by the asbestos problem, this area stands out Pallet cityin the province of Catania, where there is a mine containing asbestos mineral.
This mineral, recently geologically classified, is not yet included in the INAIL lists nor in the Italian definition of asbestos. Exposure of the local population to fluorinated edenitis has caused mesotheliomas, asbestosis and other pathologies.
Other areas in Sicily are also at high risk, including Augusta-Priolo (Syracuse), Gela (Caltanissetta) and Milazzo (Messina), where major industrial centers operate, especially in the petrochemical sector.
In Gela, cases of blood and colon cancer, asbestosis-related asbestosis and congenital deformities have occurred in particular. In recent years, health and epidemiological monitoring programs have been launched to address these critical issues.