Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Workers' representatives join the Safety Coordination; a monitoring and control table was also created 
 
Milan, November 15 2020 – A series of extraordinary measures to further promote the safety culture on M4 construction sites.

This is the objective of an agreement reached between the Municipality of Milan, the concessionaire company M4 SpA, the consortium of MM4 manufacturers and the trade union organizations CGIL, CISL and UIL.

Thanks to this agreement, we want to experiment with a safety management model on M4 construction sites inspired by the principles of worker participation, involvement and dialogue between all subjects, promotion of the culture of safety also through extraordinary training actions to increase and perfect skills regarding safety. In particular, we want to enrich the information exchange system between workers and companies and monitor the results of the initiatives undertaken.

“Thanks to the agreement signed today – explain the councilors Cristina Tajani (Labour Policies, Productive Activities and Trade) and Marco Granelli (Mobility and Public Works) – we want to offer a further and increasingly concrete contribution to the fight against accidents at work , in line with the path started in recent years by the municipal administration, bringing the issues of safety at work to the center of the municipality's agenda thanks to the continuous dialogue between companies and workers, convinced that discussion and training are the priority and indispensable tools to stop the sad list of deaths at work and to find shared and effective solutions in terms of accident prevention".

"With the agreement signed today - declare the representatives of CGIL, CISL and UIL - Vincenzo Greco, Roberta Vaia and Vincenzo Cesare - we intend to build a 'Milan system' on the large construction industry of public works which, through the participation of workers' representatives, has the ability to promote the culture of prevention and monitor the correct application of the rules in a supply chain which is highly exposed to risk factors and which has a significant rate of serious accidents. The experience already tested with Expo 2015, which had excellent results results of reducing accidents, has now been re-proposed and improved through this Protocol on the creation of M4. We believe that through adequate advance negotiation, the one shared in this Protocol is an exportable model".

“We are particularly satisfied with this protocol which involves all institutional and private entities interested in the construction of the M4 – adds Fabio Terragni, president of M4 SpA -, because as a concessionaire we are committed to achieving the highest safety standards for workers in our construction sites, even with solutions that go beyond the regulations currently in force and this agreement is an example of this".

“The activation of the safety protocol on the M4 construction sites is a huge result - says the President of the MM4 consortium Guido Mannella -. This reflects the corporate culture of the parent company Webuild, which has defined and activated safety protocols at offices and construction sites around the world to ensure the continuity of strategic projects for the community. A protocol, that of the M4, which can become a model for the "Milan system", fundamental for increasing collaboration also in safety matters between all the parties involved: Municipality of Milan, M4 SpA, companies, unions and workers".

In detail, the agreement provides for the establishment of a Workers' Representative for Safety which, among other tasks, will regularly participate in the Safety Coordination meetings and will be able to warn company managers of the risks identified on construction sites. Not only that, access to documentation and information relating to the workers authorized and employed on construction sites will be guaranteed, in compliance with the legislation on the protection of personal data.

The agreement also provides for the establishment of a "Monitoring Table" - on which workers' representatives will also sit - which will be able to activate monitoring and control actions, analyze extraordinary training programs, making use of the contribution of experts and plan open days for security. 
 
The builders, led by Webuild, have implemented a program of initiatives on health and safety at work called "ValYOU - Our health and safety way", with the aim of progressively involving all managers and workers in a new path of leadership and awareness of safety issues; The program also includes a series of workshops and training sessions which to date have already involved 164 people, including managers, supervisors and team leaders from Metro blu.

The parties, with this agreement, therefore want to put in place additional tools with respect to the obligations required by the rules. Not only that, the Municipality and the trade union organizations in this way recall the agreements and good practices already activated on the occasion of other works carried out in the Milan area, such as for example the additional protocols signed on the occasion of the Expo, when the establishment of a representation of workers, with proactive and liaison functions between workers and companies.