Caserta: 23-year-old dies in workplace accident

Francesco Dergano, the 23-year-old from Marcianise, has died. He was the victim of a workplace accident last Saturday in Trentola Ducenta (Caserta) whilst carrying out maintenance work on a forklift truck. He died after five days of agony at the Cardarelli Hospital in Naples, as a result of the extremely serious injuries he sustained.

In a statement, the CGIL Caserta expresses its deepest condolences and stands in solidarity with the family. “In the face of a tragedy such as this,” the union emphasises, “mere platitudes are not enough. Condolences are not enough. Indignation that lasts only as long as a news story is not enough. Once again, the province of Caserta finds itself mourning a very young victim of workplace accidents. Once again, a family sees its life shattered. Once again, we are faced with a death that calls into question the entire production system, the institutions and all those responsible for prevention and safety.”

The judiciary, the CGIL stresses, ‘will investigate the circumstances and determine who is responsible. But there is a collective responsibility that cannot be ignored: that of a country where people continue to die at work every day, and of a region that knows all too well the price paid by workers in terms of injuries, accidents and lives cut short. Safety cannot be left to the goodwill of companies nor reduced to a bureaucratic formality. We need investment, continuous training, safe work organisation, more frequent and effective inspections, an adequate number of inspectors, and clear accountability for companies that fail to provide adequate protection, alongside the establishment of a national public prosecutor’s office for workplace deaths’.