Stephan Schmidheiny will appeal his sentence in an Italian court , his lawyer says . Schmidheiny and a Belgian colleague are accused of failing to protect workers from abuse . Schmidheiny 's lawyer says the sentence will deter other big firms from operating in Italy . Renato Balduzzi , Italy 's health minister , called the sentence `` historic . '' Exposure to workers can lead to lung diseases and cancer .
Stephan Schmidheiny will appeal his sentence in an Italian court , his lawyer says . Schmidheiny and a Belgian colleague are accused of failing to protect workers from abuse . Schmidheiny 's lawyer says the sentence will deter other big firms from operating in Italy . Exposure to workers can lead to lung diseases and cancer .