The case of asbestos in the Madrid Metro wagons will not go to trial. As anticipated this morning The confidentialthe court that was investigating several high-ranking occupational risk officers in the Madrid underground has decided to file the case after the Prosecutor’s Office announced that it will not charge any of them, and also after the company and those affected have reached an agreement for the payment of compensation.
Asbestos, a polluting material still present in many facilities
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The case began after the Prosecutor’s Office investigated for months the death of a worker due to the consequences of continuous exposure to asbestos while working at Metro de Madrid. A material that, according to investigations by the Public Ministry, caused the death of 13 workers and the illness of another seven.
A few days ago, the Prosecutor’s Office requested that the case against those responsible for occupational safety in the Madrid suburban be closed, understanding that they cannot be criminally charged for the consequences of workers’ exposure to asbestos, but they left their accusations in writing: “ There has been an infringement of the occupational risk prevention regulations, in view of the overwhelming reports from the Labor Inspection, “said the Prosecutor’s Office.
That 30-page brief added that the public company “exposed the workers to an extremely serious danger, Given the I was aware of the existence of asbestos in places and equipment since 2003 and that the workers carried out risky work on this highly dangerous material”. Metro de Madrid, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, acted “with absolute disregard for the safety of the workers, given that they did not even know that the pieces they handled contained asbestos, thus seriously endangering their lives and physical integrity”.
Now it is the Madrid court that was investigating the case that has endorsed the arguments of the Prosecutor’s Office and has filed the case. “It is not possible to determine the persons responsible for the facts under investigation”, affirms the investigating magistrate according to this digital. According to the judge, these former Metro occupational hazard managers “cannot be held responsible ‘in integrum’ for each and every one of the conducts carried out by others and which may have generated or increased the risk to the life or health of Workers”.
The agreement reached between the families and the request for filing by the Prosecutor’s Office made it very difficult for the case to go to trial due to the withdrawal of accusations. In its brief, the Prosecutor’s Office refused to charge the defendants since, it reasoned, “their position does not make them guarantors of all actions that take place in the field of the company in which they exercise their powers.”
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