There were 96 deaths at work in Puglia last year, and today in Bari 96 coffins populated Piazza della Libertà in memory of the victims
Bari – “We are here in Bari with 96 coffins of the workers who died last year here in Puglia. This zero deaths campaign is not an advertising campaign, it is a daily battle in which we are committed to asking everyone to come to the table so that there are no more deaths at work. We will not stop and we will also take these coffins to other cities because it is not acceptable not to be able to return home from work and the many accidents that change the lives of workers and their families forever are unacceptable.” Ivana Veronese, national confederal secretary of Uil, said this in Bari during the “Mille Coffins” flash mob, set up in Piazza della Libertà, in which the actor Ettore Bassi took part.
THE DATA
In 2023, Puglia had three provinces in the red threshold for the number of deaths at work, the Bat was even sixth in the national ranking for the incidence of accidents. In Puglia, 9.3% of all technopathies confirmed in Italy were recorded. In all of 2023, 27,580 reports of workplace accidents were filed in Puglia, an average of 75 per day. Since the beginning of 2024, however, 19 deaths at work have been recorded: the data, which emerged from Inail statistics, brings Puglia to second place in the national ranking after Lombardy and, on equal merit, with Emilia Romagna and Campania, but first in terms of incidence in the first three. The most affected province is Brindisi with six deaths, followed by the four in Lecce and the same number in Bari, the two between Foggia and Bat and one Taranto.
“We are asking the Government for important measures – explains Gianni Ricci, general secretary of Uil Puglia -, condolences are no longer enough, we want more inspectors, more checks, more safety at work, we want to reach our goal which is zero deaths at work”.
