Family of deceased Cosentino worker calls for justice

Today and tomorrow, several workers who work for the company Cosentino are summoned to testify at the Mixed Court Nº3 of Huércal Overa as investigators, in order to try to elucidate the causes and circumstances of the death of Iván López Santiago, 30 years old, on the afternoon of 31 August last.

Today, Thursday 5 May, the representative of the company Acciona Facility Services S.A., the person in charge of the workers of the aforementioned company and the company’s prevention technician will testify at 9am in court. The legal representative of the company Cosentino and the director of the Joint Prevention Service will also have to testify this morning.

Tomorrow, Friday 6 May at the same time, the Director of Sustainability and Safety of the company Cosentino, the person in charge of the press area, the worker’s press manager and the mixer who was present at the time of the accident and who operated the machine will also testify before the judge, also under investigation, according to the official document to which Reporters News noticias has had access.

THE WORKER’S FAMILY DEMANDS JUSTICE FOR THE DEATH OF IVÁN LÓPEZ SANTIAGO.

On 31/8/2021 died on the premises of the company COSENTINO S.A, the worker Iván López Santiago, aged 30, who was providing services for Acciona Facility Services S.A, a company subcontracted by Cosentino S.A to carry out maintenance and cleaning work on the mixer of the Silestone III production plant located in the Cosentino Industrial Park in Cantoria.

The accident which caused the death of Iván López Santiago and which is currently the subject of criminal proceedings before the Court of Instruction No. 3 of Huercal-Overa, had as its immediate cause the start-up of the mixer 5 in which the industrial cleaning tasks were being carried out while the worker was inside it, and this as a consequence of a complete disregard and non-compliance with the most basic regulations on the prevention of occupational hazards.

The control panel of the mixer was not stopped by the Cosentino operator, as required by the safety protocol, and was activated in automatic mode, the power supply was not cut off so that the mixer could be triggered at any time, the COSENTINO mechanics bypassed the safety elements to avoid production stoppages and used neutralisers of the interlocking device to speed up the cleaning tasks. To all this we have to add the absence of an emergency stop device next to the mixer that would have avoided or mitigated the consequences and the total and absolute lack of a preventive resource to monitor the work procedure and the compliance with the preventive measures.

As a consequence of this negligent action by both companies, Iván López Santiago leaves behind a wife, three children, siblings and parents completely devastated, who 8 months after the fateful accident have still not received a single call of condolence from the companies responsible for the accident.