On Friday the 3rd in the town of Dock Sud, an accident occurred that could have ended in tragedy. On Avenida Debenedetti at the height of the Club Sportivo Dock Sud stadium, a series of pipes stowed in a doubtful manner and without a retaining wall within the port collapsed, broke the wall that separates the port from Avenida Debenedetti and ended with all the cargo over the avenue.
These pipes will be used in the construction of the Nestor Kirchner gas pipeline, a project that the National Government is committed to advancing to try to alleviate the crisis due to the lack of dollars, aggravated by the need to import gas and is a multi-million dollar gift for Paolo Rocca, Technite CEO.
The construction of this gas pipeline in record time, which is projected for winter 2023, also implies the record production of pipes and the tireless work of thousands of workers, not only in Siat, Techint, where the days are exhausting, but throughout the logistics and distribution chain, where the port of Dock Sud enters, the concessionary companies and their workers.
Although neither neighbors nor injured workers were reported, what remains clear is that the security measures used by the port are insufficient and that million-dollar businesses between companies, ports and the government do not pay attention to preventing accidents.
Port workers affirm that the inconvenience was triggered by a maneuver by the crane operator when trying to move the load with a machine that was not suitable for this type of load, “Paolini should have sent a crane with a counterweight, they knew the weight of the pipes”, says one of the workers, referring to the company in charge of providing the cranes to maneuver the load.
The level of vulnerability they have living so close to the port is not new to the residents of the area. The surrounding streets do not have adequate architecture for the transit of trucks that leave loaded with pipes that weigh between 3,700 and 5,000 kilos each. Added to this are the exhausting working days of port workers who come to work up to 24 hours uninterrupted with breaks of 1 hour every 8 hours, exposed to this type of situation.
The port of Dock Sud is one of the two responsible for unloading the materials for the construction of the aforementioned gas pipeline. The bidding document for this one speaks of a budget of $220,584,329,956.23 for its construction; An investment that does not translate into greater safety and hygiene measures for the workers in charge of handling loads of similar dimensions, is that workers’ lives are not worth what their businesses are worth to employers and the government.
Fernando Luna, a Shell worker and a graduate in Safety and Hygiene, assured: “Given these situations, the working conditions to which companies subject workers are exposed, precariousness, outsourcing, endless days and a long list of etc. It is more urgent than ever to argue that the planning of the national infrastructure is not designed based on business profits, but on the needs of the population and its workers. The reduction of the working day is an urgent need, so as not to leave life working, avoid accidents and generate employment, as well as the creation of mixed safety commissions, so that the workers themselves can discuss and prevent risks and, of course, that The millions that the government will save with this project will not be used to pay off the debt with the IMF, but rather to resolve the serious economic and social situation that millions are experiencing, we never tire of repeating it, our lives are worth more than their profits ”.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
