In the Association of Pharmaceutical Employees of Messinia answer the Board of Directors of the South Peloponnese Pharmacists’ Cooperative and the employees of SYFANOPPE, regarding the publication of the Union’s complaint about a “serious occupational accident” at the premises of the pharmacy, in Kalamata.

Both the president of the Group Nikos Marantos and the secretary Periklis Papanikolaou, they speak of exploiting a random and unpredictable event, “which aims to discredit the operation of the Cooperative”, while the employees also express surprise at how the incident was presented. They also point out that their representative was never asked by the Union about what really happened.

Here are the two announcements:

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, the president Nikos Marantos and the secretary of the SYFANOPPE Group Periklis Papanikolaou, sign the following statement:

The Board of Directors of the Southern Peloponnese Pharmacists’ Cooperative, appreciating the publicity received by the announcement of the Messinian Pharmacists’ Association, must inform the readers about the restoration of the truth in order not to create impressions.

First of all, our Cooperative and Pharmacists’ Cooperatives in general by their nature have better experience and scientific knowledge for taking measures and protecting the health of their employees and of course much better than this specific union.

What really happened:

The employee, within the framework of his responsibilities for the execution of a specific task, trained and with great experience, moved to the special field of chemicals. We receive the chemicals from the suppliers packaged for their disposal in the pharmacies. Taking from the shelf 50ml liquid phenol in a small bottle, its packaging was found to be defective, i.e. closed with its cap incompletely (by the manufacturer). As a result, a few drops of phenol came into contact with his hand and the contents spilled onto the floor. The employee did not suffer any physical damage. But there was a strong smell in the room from the contents.

His colleagues who rushed to clean the area, about a square meter inhaled the contents above.

They and all workers in the warehouse area exited the building due to the strong smell of phenol. The poison center, the cooperative’s occupational physician and the chemist of the company that prepared the 50 ml liquid phenol were informed.

After the necessary instructions were received, the workers who inhaled (were near the incident) the smell, as a precaution, on the initiative of the Board of Directors, went to the Kalamata hospital. After the necessary examinations they were discharged and are all at work.

In closing, we highlight the following:

SYFANOPPE has been operating since 1994 without any problems. It implements all the procedures provided for by ISO 9001 and the modes of operation imposed by EOF for pharmaceutical warehouses, has trained staff as required for workers in pharmaceutical warehouses and takes care of its people much better than any union.

Needless to say, an hour after the incident, since the smell of phenol was not present in the area and the workers who went to the hospital as a precaution were in good health, the cooperative continued to operate and serve their pharmacies and patients.

We never imagined as a Board that a random and unpredictable event that can happen anywhere (and in a S.M. with a bleach or some acid) could be exploited by some for publicity aimed at discrediting the operation of the Cooperative , for no reason!”.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF SYFANOPPE EMPLOYEES

“We were surprised to read the complaint of the Pharmaceutical Employees Association of Messinia about the event that happened on Wednesday 23/08/2023 at the cooperative’s pharmacy in Kalamata.

We will not dwell on what the complaint describes. The result of the event was the interruption of our work for 1-2 hours and the preventive stay at the Kalamata Hospital of 5 of our colleagues who inhaled the contents of the liquid (phenol bottle, 50 ml).

It wasn’t asked from the specific union, neither the representative of the workers, nor any worker in the cooperative about what exactly happened in the end.

All employees are at work without any health problems.

We would prefer that when a random or unforeseen event occurs in our workplace, the union takes information responsibly and highlights the real problems, or at least communicates with the elected employee representative who participates in the Board of Directors.”