Judge in Messina convicts INAIL after worker falls ill from asbestos

Last Updated: October 11, 2024

Lavoratore si ammala a causa dell'amianto, giudice di Messina condanna l'Inail

The Labor Judge of the Messina Court has sentenced INAIL to recognize the occupational disease from asbestos exposure of Giovanni Giannetto, 66 years old, originally from Nizza di Sicilia (Messina), suffering from chronic bronchopulmonary disease, diaphragm microplaques, and lung fibrosis. The worker was employed for 30 years in maintenance activities, both as a craftsman and as an employee of contracting companies in Enel power plants, including those in San Filippo del Mela, Termini Imerese, Augusta, Priolo, and Portoempedocle. The plant located in the Valle del Mela, like that in Milazzo, is a site of national interest (Sin) precisely due to high pollution, and the man was exposed directly, as he had asbestos heat-resistant gloves, and indirectly due to environmental contamination caused by the huge use of the killer fiber in insulation and plant coatings.

Giannetto had applied to INAIL in 2018 for recognition of the occupational disease, which was denied, forcing him to resort to legal action assisted by lawyer Ezio Bonanni, president of the national asbestos observatory. The Court, following the medical-legal examination confirming the causal link of the disease with exposure to the killer fiber during work, also sentenced the entity to compensate the man with 10,000 euros for biological damage.

“After this sentence, we will now act for compensation for damages and against INPS to obtain an increase in pension” says Bonanni, who points out that “the national asbestos observatory in Sicily, only for mesotheliomas, the sentinel pathology, has recorded about 1,850 cases from 1998 to today and that the mortality rate of this neoplasm is 93% in the first five years with about 1,720 deaths, to which must be added 3,500 for lung cancer and a further 1,000 for other asbestos-related diseases, for a total of over 6,200 deaths. Dramatic numbers, repeated every year, without managing to address the problem.”