868 work-related deaths reported in 10 months, -4.5% in Italy

In the first 10 months of the year 868 reports of work-related deaths were submitted to workplace accident insurance agency INAIL, down 4.5% over the same period in 2022, the agency said on Thursday, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

Reports of work-related accidents also fell by 17.8% to 489,526.

The reduction of accident reports was almost exclusively due to the considerable decrease in cases of infection by COVID-19, INAIL said.

Instead the agency received 60,462 reports of occupational diseases, an increase of 20.9% with respect to the same period in 2022.

An apparent spate of fatal workplace accidents in Italy has been highlighted by labour unions and has spurred so far ineffective action by successive governments.