On 3 July 1997, 18 workers in the shipyards of Unión Naval de Levante in Valencia died when a ship under construction caught fire. The causes of the accident, Spain's most serious in recent years, have not yet been officially established, but trade unions are alleging a breach of safety regulations.
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On 3 July 1997, 18 workers in the shipyards of Unión Naval de Levante in Valencia died when a ship under construction caught fire. The causes of the accident, Spain's most serious in recent years, have not yet been officially established, but trade unions are alleging a breach of safety regulations.
On 3 July 1997, 18 workers died in the shipyards of Unión Naval de Levante (UNL). The accident occurred when a ship under construction caught fire while it was loading fuel. The workers who were in the machine room of the ship at that moment were trapped by the fire and smoke and could not be rescued. They were employed by UNL and by three subcontractors:Insertank, Inelca and Alfa Naval
The first reactions occurred immediately after the accident. Several workers claimed that insufficient safety measures had been operated at the shipyard, and accused the company of not stopping the welding work during the loading of fuel. The management of UNL denied this, indicating that the accident had no relationship with the loading of fuel and that the appropriate safety measures were observed at all times. The workers' committee of UNL did not want to make a declaration without further knowledge of the facts, but expressed their doubts about the incident. In its opinion, the safety measures applied had been legal but insufficient.
The causes of the accident have not yet been officially established because the report on the incident is taking longer than expected. However, trade unions have already given their official reactions. CC.OO (Comisiones Obreras) drew up a report a fortnight after the accident, claiming that there had been three fuel leaks during the loading, and that one of these leaks caused the fire by contact with electrical material. According to this report, the personnel of UNL and the three subcontracted staff who were working in the machine room had allegedly been unaware that fuel was being loaded in the ship, which would contravene existing safety regulations. The UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores) union confederation will act as private prosecutor at the trial.
This accident is the most serious that has occurred in Spain over the last few years and has once again revealed the problem of industrial accidents. Spain has the highest rate of industrial accidents in the European Union: in 1996 there were 11.7 accidents per 100 workers, as compared with 8.1 in France or 8 in Germany. The Law on Prevention of Industrial Hazards, approved in 1995, was an important step forward in dealing with this situation, but its regulatory development is very recent and it is still being introduced. The gravity of the accident has made it necessary to take extraordinary measures in shipbuilding, one of the sectors with the highest accident rates: the National Commission for Security and Hygiene (health and safety) at Work will study the creation of a specific working group for the prevention of industrial hazards in the sector.
Eurofound soovitab viidata sellele väljaandele järgmiselt.
Eurofound (1997), Serious industrial accident in shipbuilding, article.
