The investigating court number 1 of Terrassa investigates the death of a worker on November 17 at the waste treatment center (CTR) of Vacarisses (Vallès Occidental).

The accident occurred in a press for compacting remains whose safety system had been faulty since July 21, as stated in a report from the Mossos d’Esquadra scientific police, the contents of which La Vanguardia has had access to.

The employee, Victoria Martínez Lozano, 44, accessed the interior of the PR103 machine, probably – and as usual – to eliminate any residue that had hindered its operation.

The press has a key transfer security system. On the operations panel there are two switches, which must be in the on position for the machine to work, as well as two metal keys that must be inserted. When you have to enter the compartment – ??equipped with a guillotine and compaction systems – one of the two keys must be removed to open the door, so that the machine is automatically stopped.

The system had not been working for almost four months. The access lock on said door had been replaced “with a conventional hardware store padlock, so that the compactor compartment could be opened without having to remove the security keys,” as a worker explained to this newspaper.

The scientific police report also reports a “red chain” found at the door of the press. And he emphasizes that the failure of the security system had been “since July 21, 2023 and nothing had yet been done to solve it.”

It is not clear what instructions for use those in charge of the plant had given to the employees who operated the press. The police report details that the main switch was in the on position, while the other was in the off position.

This type of press is activated when it detects objects inside, and was started when the worker came in to do maintenance. These works, according to sources close to the victim, must be done in the presence of a second person, a circumstance that did not occur at that time.

The investigating court has just received the results of the victim’s autopsy and is awaiting receipt of the labor inspection report and all documentation related to the safety of the facility, such as the occupational risk plan, explain sources from the prosecution. Any workplace accident resulting in death entails the opening of legal proceedings for reckless homicide and/or a crime against the safety of workers.

There is still no one involved in the case, although the victim’s family – who denounces a lack of information from the company – is in the process of doing so.

The company declined through a spokesperson to make any statement to this newspaper, stating that the accident is in the process of judicial investigation.

The Vallès Occidental CTR is publicly owned and managed by a temporary union between the companies Hera, FCC and Urbaser. The plant occupies 48,089 m2 and has a treatment capacity of 245,000 tons per year; In 2022 it managed 205,973 and plans to close 2023 with 220,000. The contract between the UTE and the Vallès Occidental Waste Management Consortium, dependent on the Regional Council, is for 23,933,118 euros. The plant has been operating since 2010 and is next to the historic Coll Cardús landfill, where it sends non-recyclable remains.

The deceased had worked for about three years at the plant, where her older brother, to whom she was very close and who got her the job, operates as a truck driver. She was divorced and the mother of a 24-year-old boy. Friends and co-workers highlight Victoria Martínez as a very dear person, always willing to lend a hand. She was organizing the company’s Christmas lunch, in fact it was about this that she talked to her brother about when they crossed paths at the plant on the fateful day. He had a morning shift and was already leaving, while she, with an afternoon shift, came in. The accident occurred around 4:30 p.m.

Since the event, the PR103 press has been stopped and the plant only operates with a single compaction press, the PR104. There are several employees on leave.