L’Amap in Casteldaccia: maintenance work on manholes needed.

Last Updated: May 9, 2024

L'Amap su Casteldaccia: il lavoro doveva essere svolto in superficie, occorreva portare al livello i tombini e poi spurgarli

Explain in brief the following article:

One of the five dead in the work massacre in Casteldaccia was not part of the Quadrifoglio Group. Giuseppe La Barbara was in charge of Amap, which had hired him from an interim agency. Technically, he was an “ascertainer”. That is, he had to check if barriers, signs, road signs were in place and avoid – ironically – accidents. So he was the one who, in this story, was out of the deck, the one who had nothing to do with the drainage intervention that had to be carried out.

From the company that manages the service in Palermo and in 46 towns in the province, Amap, they say that the hiring rules were clear. Surface work had to be carried out. Bring the submerged manholes to the level of the asphalt and then drain them. The truck with the vacuum cleaner was there. On one side, a large sign indicates the necessary equipment in those conditions: gloves, helmet, masks, suit. None of this had the team in action in Casteldaccia. Probably precisely because it was not planned to work in dangerous environments. And so it is clear that it will be crucial to understand if there was imprudence by someone who wanted to carry out an unauthorized intervention, or if they had the “coverage” of some hierarchical superior who gave the green light. This is not a trivial matter because it involves different responsibility profiles.

Yesterday, meanwhile, the Palermo City Council opened with a minute of silence for the victims. But also with concern that the tragedy is closely related to a company linked to the Municipality being its majority shareholder. The opposition, in fact, asks for a closer look at the procedures adopted by the water management service company. And they ask the mayor, Roberto Lagalla, to intervene on the Amap administrator, Alessandro Di Martino. “The administration must take responsibility for the relationship between Amap and the commissioning parties,” says Mariangela Di Gangi of Progetto Palermo. “We would like to understand what obligations companies assume. The administrator Alessandro Di Martino, in a public statement, had said that there was a contract with Quadrifoglio Group. Today we learn that the contract was awarded to another company that had subcontracted to Quadrifoglio. If the administrator doesn’t know if a job was contracted or subcontracted, it’s very serious.” Also from the opposition, Ugo Forello of the Oso group addressed Brigida Alaimo, the assessor in charge of overseeing the Participated companies, present at Sala Martorana. “If what Di Gangi said is true,” Forello said, “I invite you to remove the Amap administrator because his statements appear to be untrue, we do not know if out of ignorance or incompetence. I recall that, in these contracts, Amap is responsible for both the direction of the works and safety.”