VAST. Based on a survey carried out by INAIL, approximately 25% of the fatal accidents that occurred in the five-year period 2011-2015 alone and recorded in the database concern the agricultural sector. Almost 90% of those involved in the accidents were Italian citizens while the foreigners, whose places of origin are varied, are mostly originally from Romania. Returning to all the cases, it emerges that these are essentially workers who in 84% of cases had many years of experience in their jobs. As one might expect, the distribution of events by number of employees is strongly skewed towards micro-enterprises (1 – 9 employees), rather than in the agricultural sector. The analysis of the employment relationship revealed following the accident investigation highlights that over a quarter of the deaths (28%) involved self-employed workers/owners without employees, followed by pensioners (18.9%). Among the accidents, or the ways in which fatal events occur in agriculture, the majority of cases And loss of control of agricultural machinery/vehicles (49%, essentially overturning and, in some cases, hitting operators on the ground), followed by a worker falling from above (15%), contact with moving workers’ parts (12% ),unexpected/inopportune starting of vehicle, machine, equipment (10%).
In our Abruzzo since January 2024 several fatal events have already occurred due in particular to the overturning of tractors as some of them were without anti-tipping devices while others, despite being equipped with them, had not been inserted due to negligence or forgetfulness on the part of the agricultural operator. Furthermore, given their age, almost all those vehicles did not originally have seat belts. All this happened despite the fact that clear legislation has existed for some time, as reported in Legislative Decree no. 81/2008, and INAIL (National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work) has long drawn up guidelines which give indications on the adaptation of agricultural tractors to minimum safety requirements.
It should also be noted that article 21 of Legislative Decree 81/08 provides for financial and criminal sanctions for users:
a) with arrest of up to one month or with a fine of 200 to 600 euros for the violation of article 21, paragraph 1, letters a) and b)
b) with the administrative pecuniary sanction of 50 to 300 euros for each person for the violation of article 21, paragraph 1, letter c).
In my humble opinion as an expert technician, in order to reduce the number of fatal accidents, it is necessary to intervene effectively in various directions, such as:
– INAIL must carry out a serious training and information campaign aimed at operators of agricultural vehicles on the risks of fatal and non-fatal accidents during field work;
– the State must intervene at a national level with “tax bonuses” to be granted only to pensioners and main agricultural entrepreneurs with limited ISEE in order to economically incentivize the adjustments of the means.
– INAIL (National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work) must draw up a national price list showing the various expense ceilings that must not be exceeded by Authorized Workshops for the various anti-tipping adjustments of tractors and for the installation of seat belts.
– the supervisory bodies (Labour Inspectors, ASL and Law Enforcement) must sanction agricultural operators whenever they find their tractors without safety devices as required by current legislation on the matter.
Thus, the mechanical engineer Arturo Cauli.
