The latest investigation into the workplace safety emergency, conducted by the team of experts atVega Safety and Environment Observatory Engineering, highlights the incidence of accidents as the true risk indicator for workers in Italy. This data, which measures the number of victims in relation to the working population, allows us to precisely map the areas at greatest risk, providing a valuable tool for those who work in the field of workplace safety.
In April 2024, regions with an incidence higher than 25% compared to the national average (equal to 8.7 workplace deaths per million workers) end up in the “red zone”. These regions include Valle d’Aosta, Trentino-Alto Adige, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Puglia, Campania and Calabria. In the “yellow zone” we find Sardinia, Tuscany, Sicily, Lombardy, Piedmont and Lazio, while the “white zone” includes Liguria, Abruzzo, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Basilicata, Veneto, Marche and Molise.
The Observatory has also outlined the identikit of the workers most at risk based on age group, with mortality rates that remain particularly worrying among older workers. The over-sixty-five age group has the highest incidence (34.9 per million employed), followed by workers between 55 and 64 years of age (13.5 per million).
Foreigners are particularly affected by this phenomenon: in the first quarter of 2024, 48 foreign workers died at work, with an almost triple risk of death compared to Italians (20.2 deaths per million employed compared to 7.5 for Italians) .
In total, 268 workers died at work in Italy in the first four months of 2024: 206 during work and 62 en route (on the journey from home to work). Lombardy holds the sad record with 33 victims, followed by Emilia-Romagna (28), Campania (20), Puglia (17) and Lazio (16). The construction sector remains the most dangerous, with 41 workplace deaths, followed by manufacturing (25), transport and warehousing (19) and trade (11).
The number of injury reports also increased by 3.6% compared to April 2023, from 187,324 to 193,979. Manufacturing activities recorded the highest number of complaints (22,299), followed by construction (10,913), healthcare (10,873) and transport and warehousing (10,072). There were 70,733 accident reports for female workers, while 123,246 for male workers. The age group most affected is between 45 and 54 years old, with 41,613 complaints (21.5% of the total).
The incidence rate of fatal accidents allows the phenomenon to be compared between different regions, regardless of the working population. The zoning used by the Observatory distinguishes between:
-White: regions with an accident incidence lower than 75% of the national average;
-Yellow: regions with an incidence between 75% and 100% of the national average;
-Orange: regions with an incidence between 100% and 125% of the national average;
-Red: regions with an incidence greater than 125% of the national average.
“A third of the year has already passed and the emergency deaths at work are described by the usual tragic numbers. If the situation does not change, by the end of 2024 we will count over 1,000 victims at work. From January to April 2024 there were 268 victims, 4 more than at the end of April 2023. Compared to the same period last year, commuting deaths increased by +8.8%: it should be highlighted that until March we had recorded a decrease in fatal accidents on the way home to work, unfortunately this trend was not confirmed with the data for the month of April” he comments Mauro RossatoPresident of the Vega Engineering Workplace Safety and Environment Observatory of Mestre.
