The TSJC confirms that a former Repsol employee's lymphoma is occupational in origin.
The ruling confirms the link between exposure to chemicals such as benzene and the employee's illness.
BarcelonaThe Social Division of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has confirmed that the Hodgkin lymphoma suffered by a former Repsol employee at the Tarragona petrochemical plant is occupational. The Catalan court has dismissed the appeals filed by the energy company and the Fraternidad mutual insurance company against the previous ruling by Tarragona Social Court No. 3, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the Colectivo Ronda law cooperative, which advised the former employee. This initial court ruling confirmed that there was a causal link between the employee's lymphatic cancer, for which he was granted permanent disability in 2019, and exposure to chemical agents, particularly benzene, during his work at the Tarragona plant.
According to the law firm's statement, Repsol and the mutual insurance company "argued that the employee's duties as an area and panel operator only involved sporadic or nonexistent contact with hazardous substances." Various technical reports, such as the one prepared by the Labor Inspectorate, however, confirmed the constant and widespread presence of various chemical agents, primarily benzene, during the time and in the areas where the victim worked at the Tarragona petrochemical plant. The Col·lectiu Ronda recalls that Repsol's own risk assessment pointed to possible exposure to chemical contaminants and that the company's hygiene plan included monitoring certain workstations for these risks.
Even so, the ruling clarifies that all the monitoring of these substances was always within legal limits. Therefore, it does not attribute any criminal liability to Repsol for the worker's development of occupational cancer.
In this regard, the TSJC (High Court of Justice) recalls that the list of occupational diseases identifies exposure to benzene in petrochemical industry workers as a factor in the development of lymphomas, including Hodgkin's lymphoma. "Now that the occupational origin of the disease has been confirmed, [the affected worker] will continue to pursue the relevant claims to establish Repsol's liability for breaching its duty to protect the health of its workers," remarks Jaume Cortés, the lawyer from Col·lectiu Ronda who acted as counsel. The energy company could still appeal this ruling, which is not final.
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The lawyer was previously responsible for a 2020 ruling that held Repsol liable for the cancer that affected an employee of one of the contracts operating at the chemical plant. "There are still many people in the petrochemical industry who suffer from exposure to chemical agents and environmental pollutants without ever having the occupational origin of their illnesses recognized or accessing the benefits and rights to which they are entitled. Today, it is still not acknowledged that many illnesses are directly caused by work-related activities, and this is a true, ongoing and large-scale violation."