Five workers were transferred to the Kalamata Hospital for providing first aid, when they came into contact with and inhaled a caustic substance.

According to the announcement of the Association of Pharmaceutical Employees of Messinia the accident happened on August 23 in a warehouse of the Southern Peloponnese Pharmacists’ Cooperative while asking the Labor Inspectorate, EFKA and the competent bodies to clarify the conditions.

In particular, the following are mentioned:

“A serious occupational accident occurred the day before yesterday, August 23, at the warehouse of the South Peloponnese Pharmacists’ Cooperative SY.FA.NO.P.E., when a container with a caustic substance was opened for an unknown reason and spilled during its transport. The result was that 5 workers who came into contact with him or inhaled the fumes felt discomfort and had to be transferred to the Kalamata General Hospital for first aid, where they remained as a precaution for monitoring.

In such sensitive workplaces, insufficient training for the management of dangerous substances, cuts in protective measures combined with the intensification of work, lead with mathematical precision to an increase in occupational accidents.

We call on the Labor Inspectorate, the EFKA of Kalamata and all relevant agencies to conduct the necessary checks to clarify the circumstances of this particular industrial accident.

To prevent accidents in workplaces such as pharmaceutical warehouses, where dangerous and caustic substances are stored, with possible very serious consequences for the lives of workers and public health, we require:

– The training of employees for the management of dangerous, caustic and flammable materials

– The provision of appropriate equipment to protect workers from dangerous substances

– The necessary configuration of the storage areas of such substances for their safe storage and transport”.