On Friday, Italy saw three more workplace fatalities in a spate the union UIL claims kill more people than the mafia.
A 21-year-old construction worker died in Sicily, another worker fell to his death from a motorway maintenance site into the northern Italian Adda River, and another 21-year-old farm worker was crushed to death when his tractor overturned in Minturno near Latina, south of Rome.
The young man in Sicily, Angelo Giardina, died while working in a shed of a construction company producing concrete products in Canicattì, in the Agrigento area. Initial reports suggest he was run over by a forklift truck he was manoeuvering.
In the incident at the Adda River, the worker, identified as 58-year-old Claudio Tigni, was working on a channel. He apparently slipped and fell, dragged under the water by the heavy gear he was wearing.
At Minturno, a hill town south of Latina, a tractor overturned, killing the young man instantly.
Trend of workplace fatalities
These latest deaths are part of a troubling trend of workplace fatalities in Italy, with another two occurring on Tuesday. Almost 500 people have died in work accidents in Italy so far this year, according to the national observatory. In 2023, the total figure was about 1,000.
Recent incidents include the deaths of five men who inhaled toxic gas in a sewer network near Palermo last month, and seven workers who died in a hydro power plant explosion near Bologna in April. Additionally, eight workers were injured, five critically, in an explosion at an aluminium plant in Bolzano last week. One has since succumbed to his injuries, while others are still fighting for their lives with critical burns.
The death of Satnam Singh, who was dumped outside his house with a severed arm, could have been avoided. Singh died of haemorrhaging the autopsy revealed. If he had been treated immediately, he could have been saved.
