Tragic death, in the early afternoon of yesterday, inside the factory, of the company “Agrumi – Gel Srl”, a citrus processing company, in the Girotta district. One of the most experienced workers lost his life, Antonio Rocco Russo, 60 years old, from Condrò, who for decades had worked for the citrus company which since 1998 has been producing juice concentrates and essential oils for the national and European food industries. Among the hypotheses being examined by the investigators is that of a failure in the production system that would have occurred during the automated processing cycle of citrus fruits destined to be macerated.
The victim of the accident, yesterday as always, was driving the forklift which was unloading the rigid plastic bins used for the storage and logistical movement of citrus fruits destined for the transformation cycle from the trucks transporting loose citrus fruits in the citrus industry square. According to an initial reconstruction, the man who has been carrying out the same tasks for years would have noticed that the robotic mobile handling system, which drags the citrus fruits to unload them into a tank and then transfer them to the bucket elevator, would have jammed. Based on the first elements collected, the worker who has always carried out this task opened the yellow fence that delimits the robotic system from the rest of the work chain to check what had happened. Suddenly, for reasons that are currently being reconstructed, the operator was apparently dragged by the machinery, becoming trapped and losing his life. Yet, modern mobile robots and mobile manipulators are designed with sensors to detect human presence and stop the work chain from jamming.
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