Italy, deaths at work: a 166% increase recorded

Italy, deaths at work: a 166% increase is recorded. Campania in the yellow zone.

"The decrease in mortality compared to 2021 would seem to be an important and comforting figure (-16%), but this variation is strongly "contaminated" by the almost total absence of deaths from Covid in 2022 compared to 2021: last year, in fact, in the first four months, fatal accidents from Covid were 210 out of 306.

This year, there are only 6 out of 261. This means that “non-Covid” fatal accidents have gone from 96 in 2021 to 255 in 2022, with a striking and dramatic increase of 166%. This figure, estimated and not precise due to the way in which the statistics are compiled and the data validated, highlights the significant difference in the weight of the Covid phenomenon between 2021 and 2022, explaining the decrease in fatal accidents this year. And, in the meantime, 364 workers have lost their lives from North to South of the country in the first five months of 2022, with a distressing average of over two deaths at work per day. Furthermore, there has been a sharp increase in accident reports, which have increased by 48% compared to the same period last year”.

Speaking is Mauro Rossato, President of the Vega Engineering Workplace Safety Observatory in Mestre. A consideration that explains the apparent detection of the inversion of the trend of deaths, making the emergency of a country that remains trapped in the grip of insecurity at work emerge even more clearly. A plague that, cleansed by deaths from Covid, grows by as much as 166% compared to the previous year.

“And the precarious balance of protecting workers' health is defined in a very significant way in the total accident reports – underlines Mauro Rossato – the increase continues to be 48% compared to 2021, reaching 323.806. With the Healthcare, Manufacturing and Transport sectors still at the top of the ranking”.

These are the numbers. Then there is the real risk of workers, region by region and province by province. The Vega Engineering Workplace Safety Observatory in Mestre has always analyzed the mortality incidence index, that is, the ratio of fatal accidents to the regional and provincial working population, whose average in Italy in the first five months of the year is 11,9 deaths per million employed.

The Mestre Observatory processes monthly the zoning of the risk of death for workers in our country which is described - like the pandemic - by dividing Italy into colors.

To finish in red zone at the end of the first five months of 2022, with an incidence 25% higher than the national average (Im=Average incidence index, equal to 11,9 per million workers) are: Valle d'Aosta, Trentino Alto Adige and Calabria.

In orange zone: Puglia, Tuscany, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, Marche and Abruzzo.

In yellow zone: Sicily, Umbria, Lombardy, Lazio, Campania and Molise.

In white area: Sardinia, Basilicata, Liguria and Friuli Venezia Giulia.

(Graphs and data are available in the attachment and on the website www.vegaengineering.com).

THE ABSOLUTE NUMBERS OF WORK-RELATED DEATHS IN ITALY IN THE FIRST FIVE MONTHS OF 2022

Leading the ranking of the highest number of victims at work is still the region with the highest working population in Italy, namely Lombardy (47).

They are followed by: Veneto (28), Emilia Romagna (26), Lazio and Piedmont (23), Tuscany (21), Puglia (17), Campania (16), Sicily (15), Trentino Alto Adige (13), Marche and Calabria (8), Abruzzo (6), Sardinia (5), Umbria (4), Liguria (3), Valle D'Aosta 2, Molise, Basilicata and Friuli Venezia Giulia (1).

The attached report shows the number of work-related deaths province by province.

From January to May 2022, 364 work-related fatalities were recorded in Italy; of these, 268 were recorded at work, a decrease compared to May 2021 (– 26%), while 96 died due to an accident on the way to work (+33% compared to 2021). An increase probably due to the resumption of travel to go from home to work compared to the same period last year, when Covid still limited production activities.

Even in the first five months of 2022, the Transport and Warehousing sector recorded the highest number of work-related deaths: 40.

They are followed by: Construction (38) and Manufacturing (27).

The age group most affected by fatal accidents at work is still that between 55 and 64 years (95 out of a total of 268). But the highest mortality incidence rate compared to employed workers is still found among older workers, those over sixty-five, who record 32,6 fatal accidents per million employed workers. The lowest mortality incidence, however, remains in the age group between 25 and 34 years (equal to 4,6), while in the youngest age group, i.e. between 15 and 24 years, the incidence rises to 9,9 fatal accidents per million employed workers.

The women who lost their lives at work in the first five months of 2022 are 26 out of 268. In 21, however, they lost their lives in itinere, that is, on the way from home to work.

There are 41 foreigners who died at work.

Tuesday was confirmed as the day of the week with the highest number of fatal accidents in the first five months of 2022.

Total accident reports are increasing (+48% compared to May 2021). At the end of May 2021 there were 219.262 while at the end of May 2022 there were 323.806. More than 47 thousand accidents occurred at work in the Health and Social Assistance sector. Over 30 thousand in Manufacturing Activities and almost 29 thousand in Transport.

Injury reports by Italian female workers in the first five months of 2022 were 143.274, those by male colleagues 180.532

COLOUR ZONING IS THE NEW GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION DEVELOPED BY THE VEGA ENGINEERING WORKPLACE SAFETY OBSERVATORY IN MESTRE TO PICTURE THE LEVEL OF WORKERS' SAFETY.

The incidence of fatal accidents indicates the number of workers who die during work activity in a given area (region or province) for every million employed people present in the same area. This index allows to compare the accident phenomenon between different regions, even if characterized by a different working population.

The zoning used by the Vega Safety Observatory depicts the accident risk in the Italian regions according to the following color scale: