Campo registers average of eight workplace accidents every day, union says

by Maria Jesus Corrales

The Campo de Gibraltar registers eight accidents in the workplace every day on average, according to the trade union Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and, so far in 2024, there have also been four fatal accidents, the last at a wind farm in Tarifa last week.

Members of the union rallied yesterday in Algeciras in protest and observed a minute's silence.

According to the secretary general of CCOO in Campo de Gibraltar, Manuel Triano, in the first three quarters of 2024 there have been more than eight accidents of varying severity per day on average in the Campo area and, thus far this year four have proved fatal.

According to statistics provided exclusively by CCOO to the Chronicle, there were 2,254 accidents at work in the Campo between January to September 2024, of which seven have been classified as serious and three fatal.

The three fatal accidents occurred in Algeciras and do not include the fourth, which occurred in Tarifa.

The vast majority of the rest of the workplace accidents were of a minor nature.

More than half of the accidents in the Campo, 1,189 according to CCOO figures, occurred in Algeciras.

The second highest number comes from Los Barrios, where 325 accidents occurred, followed by San Roque with 318, and La Línea with 213.

A map of workplace accidents by municipality reveals concentrations in the Campo area’s industrial hubs, with the port of Algeciras and the industrial estates in Los Barrios and San Roque being hot spots.

In the province of Cádiz, the Campo de Gibraltar is the region of with the second highest accident rate, surpassed only by the Bay of Cádiz which recorded 3,103 accidents in the first nine months of the year. In third place is the metropolitan area of Jerez, with 1,630 accidents.

These three urbanised areas account for 6987 of the 9,083 workplace accidents in Cádiz province over the first nine months of 2024 and the province has seen 11 fatalities and 68 serious injuries.

The leader of CCOO in Cadiz, Inmaculada Ortega, has called on the competent authorities to make a greater effort in inspection and monitoring of health and safety legislation as her union reported four companies to the labour inspectorate over the fatal accident that occurred in Tarifa last week.

The companies, Acciona Energía, Acciona Construcción, Gestacur España and Wind1000, are accused by the union of failing to comply with safety regulations during the dismantling of a wind farm.

The incident occurred in La Iruela farm, at kilometre 63 of the N-340 road, where the worker, a resident of Tahivilla, was dismantling a wind turbine when an electrical cabinet suspended five metres above the ground broke loose and fell on him, killing him instantly.

According to the union, the chain holding the cabinet snapped, the equipment was not properly marked and there were no measures taken or equipment supplied that could have prevented the accident.