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A TRAGIC ACCIDENT IN THE FOUNDRY “CIMOS” KIKINDA

GOING TO WORK IS AS RUSSIAN ROULETTE




Kikinda, January 26, 2007.
The investigation of the injury of three workers of “Cimos” Foundry, of which one died, has still not been finished. According to unofficial information, a terrible accident was caused by the gases accumulated in a ladle, due to which the hot metal dispersed like rain across the Nodular Cast Plant. After regular repairs, the ladle in question was put in the production process on that tragic day. It will be inspected today by the experts of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy of Belgrade. On order given by the investigating judge of the Municipal Court, the survey has been carried out by the court expert, Milan Lazicic, and suggested that these experts should be hired for giving the final judgment on the cause of this accident.

Going to work to the biggest Factory - “Livnica-Cimos” in Kikinda, employees experience as Russian roulette, because no one can predict with certainty when a new accident will happen, in which some worker can lose his arm, leg, eyes or even life – stated Dragan Matic, President of Metal Workers’ Branch Union “Nezavisnost” at the Press Conference, the day before yesterday. Matic didn’t choose the words to express his discontent, because of a tragic accident that happened in the Nodular Cast Plant when, for unknown reasons, the hot metal splashed from a big ladle and killed the worker Nedeljko Orozovic (54) from Rusko Selo, and injured two of his colleagues. – “No one is certain in the factory that he will come back from work without an injury. We have attempted the impossible since this fall in order that poor working conditions in the Foundry are improved. A Collective Agreement with the Employer has neither been signed in the company nor a Collective Agreement on Safety and Occupational Safety. Only one person in a big company such as “Livnica-Cimos” has been dealing with occupational safety issues intensively and two persons optionally”, stated Matic.

He said that, although he insisted on scheduling a meeting with the management of “Livnica-Cimos”, his attempt was unsuccessful. He was told that the General Director, Mirko Latinovic, was very busy and that a meeting would be possibly scheduled in seven days.

-“It seems that except the commissaries from the commissary office of our Union, no one in the factory is interested in difficult working conditions. By our judgment, there is no workplace in “Livnica-Cimos” that is safe enough. I had the opportunity to see employees’ work lists, in which they had 140 hours overtime work each on 172 hours of regular work. I wonder whether someone who spends 312 hours per month on the job, can do the work very well, without a risk to get injured due to fatigue or something else. The management and representatives of the factory’s Autonomous Union know that, but they haven’t taken any steps” – Matic is categorical.

According to his words, the identified causes have still not been eliminated in the Foundry’s plants, which brought about several serious injuries and even a worker’s death. In the light of these facts, Matic wondered whether a Slovenian worker’s life, in their plants outside Serbia, was more expensive than the life of those working in “Livnica-Cimos” for a poor salary, being Din. 10.000 on the average. Matic has announced that, due to the latest tragic event, but also a few similar ones in the Nodular Cast Plant, the Head of Safety and Occupational Safety Administration, Vera Bozic-Trefalt, would visit “Livnica-Cimos” in the following week (“Glas javnosti”, January 25, 2007).

 
     
 
 
 
 
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