Manslaughter probe opened after worker dies of heat stroke despite midday working ban

A manslaughter probe has been opened

after a 57-year-old Italian worker died of suspected heat stroke

at a building site in the early afternoon near Padua Wednesday

despite a regional ban on open-air working during the hottest

time of the day in Italy's current brutal heatwave.

The Padua prosecutor's office has opened a manslaughter

investigation against unknown persons to shed light on the death

of Stefano Tonin, worker who died after falling ill while

working on a construction site in San Martino di Lupari.

As reported by Il Mattino di Padova and the Padua edition of Il

Gazzettino, the investigation aims to clarify whether the

worker's death was related to high temperatures and why he was

at work at 2:30 PM despite the regional ordinance prohibiting

outdoor work from 12:30 PM to 4:00 PM on days when the

Worklimate system indicates a high level of risk related to sun

exposure.

An autopsy on the man's body, already ordered by the

Prosecutor's Office, will be crucial to fully understanding the

role of heat in the cause of death.

Spisal (the Italian Social Security Agency) is also

investigating the case, and will need to verify Tonin's work

schedule, his duties, and the instructions the Castelfranco

company (for which he worked) had given him for completing the

day.

And, above all, it must determine whether he was notified of his

break times as required by law.

When he became ill, the 57-year-old was working on a plumbing

system on a private lot where terraced houses will be built.

Despite the arrival of emergency services on the scene and his

transport to the hospital in Padua, there was nothing more that

could be done for him, and he died in the emergency room about

an hour and a half later.

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