Roca Sanitarios family compensation condemnation: The 25th Social Court of Barcelona has sentenced Roca Sanitarios to compensate with 556,205.29 euros to the family of a former worker, who died in 2017 as a result of an affliction due to exposure to asbestos.

The employee worked at the factory in Gavà (Barcelona) during the 1970s and 1989s, a period in which the ruling considers the use of asbestos to be credible in the company, Col·lectiu Ronda, representative of the worker's family, said in a press release. this Monday.

Since 1995, the worker had recognized the situation of absolute permanent disability resulting from an occupational disease that generated respiratory failure.
In 2017, a pleural mesothelioma was detected, a pathology whose only recognized cause is exposure to asbestos, which caused the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) to recognize the situation of great disability due to occupational disease.

Roca Sanitarios family compensation condemnation

Based on this recognition, and the damages caused by the physical condition of the affected, such as the permanent need for help from third parties for any daily activity, the lawsuit was filed against the sanitary company.

A report from the Labor Inspectorate, which has been provided as evidence during the trial, concludes that the pathologies and death of the worker have their origin in the inhalation of asbestos fibers present in various components of faucets, especially joints.

This material was used by the company at least until 2004, four years after the prohibition of asbestos in the European Union by the European Union, and two after the end of the moratorium for the use of this material, which had been granted by the government by Jose María Aznar.

In addition, the report determines that, since 1984 was authorized by the Ministry of Economy, the company produced until 2001 brake pads for railways, whose material was "almost exclusively" asbestos.

The report states that Roca Sanitarios denied the presence of this material in its facilities in front of the Labor Inspection, stating that the company "had never existed the risk of exposure to asbestos".

In this way, the company rejected the need to respond to the requirements of the Labor Inspectorate, which requested documentation that demonstrated the creation of preventive measures and the pertinent medical examinations.

The court, faced with this insufficient justification by the company, has considered proven the use of asbestos and the responsibility of the company for the "total and absolute absence" of preventive measures for workers against the risk of exposure to asbestos.

The lawyer of the worker's family, Àlex Tisminetzky, has pointed out that Roca's workers have suffered for years from lung cancer and other pathologies, which were "hidden" due to the difficulty of demonstrating the presence of asbestos in the company, which even condemned denies the presence of the material.

In addition, it has considered that it is important that medical examinations are carried out for active workers, retired workers or those who are no longer part of the company, but who may have been exposed until at least the year 2004.

Tisminetzky pointed out that thousands of workers have passed through the Gavà factory and that the death toll can be "very high", including people who have died from asbestos-related pathologies without knowing it, and therefore without having obtained the corresponding economic repairs.

For this reason, he reminded family members of workers of the company that: "Deaths resulting from work-related accidents or occupational diseases never prescribe", and he affirmed that they continue to have the right to be recognized as being the asbestos of Roca. causing the death of their relatives.

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