His name was Loris Costantino. He was 36 years old. And yesterday, in the former Ilva factory in Taranto, he fell from a height of almost 20 meters while working in the Agglomeration department. A fall into the void that left him no escape.
Loris was an employee of the cleaning company Gea Power, part of the related industries. After the impact he was still conscious, despite the very serious injuries to his chest and arm. He was helped immediately, taken first to the internal infirmary and then urgently to the Santissima Annunziata hospital. Attempts to resuscitate him proved futile.
He had a life ahead of him. And instead today there remains silence, a destroyed family and yet another burning question: why?
A factory that continues to count deaths
Loris’s tragedy is not an isolated one. Only last January 12, in the same plant now managed by Acciaierie d’Italia, Claudio Salamida, 46, lost his life in an accident with similar dynamics. He also fell from above. He also didn’t return home.
The sequence seems endless. And every time the same script is repeated: rescue, investigations, condolences, promises. Then it all starts again.
The causes of the accident are still to be clarified. Firefighters and Spesal technicians intervened on site. But while investigations and responsibilities are awaited, one certainty remains: people continue to die of work in that factory.
The reaction was immediate. The metalworkers’ unions Fim, Fiom, Uilm and Usb occupied the company management and proclaimed a 24-hour strike over three shifts starting from 12.30 today.
They speak of a collapsing factory, left for years without a clear industrial vision, without adequate investments, without structural safety measures that truly put people’s lives at the centre.
Working cannot be Russian roulette
Taranto has been living with a painful conflict for decades: health or work. But the truth is that this contrast is false and cruel. Because work without security is not dignity, but blackmail.
In a plant defined by many as obsolete in a zone defined as “sacrifice”, with structures and processes that require profound interventions, safety cannot be a secondary issue. It cannot be sacrificed on the altar of production or corporate uncertainty.
Every time a worker falls for meters and meters it is the sign of a system that can no longer hold. It is proof that the industrial, environmental and social transition that we talk about so much remains incomplete. Still.
