A worker falls from the basket of a crane, another falls from a scaffolding, two remain crushed by a machine. And then, who ends up under a forklift, who loses his life in an explosion, some for inhalations.
A few days after the anniversary of the Brandizzo massacre, where five workers who worked on the tracks were killed by a freight train, the bulletin of the last hours for the deaths in the workplace is still tragic: from Turin to the province of Catania, passing through Monza and for Rome, four workers lost their lives in as many accidents (one of these, Yosif Gamal, Egyptian, was 69 years old …).
An infinite massacre on which the spotlight is pointed only when the news is fresh, but of which the INAIL rattles off the data month after month. And they are not comfortable at all.
In the first seven months of 2025 432 complaints of fatal accident. INAIL data
According to Inail, in the first seven months of 2025 there were 432 complaints of fatal accident, three less than 2024, but the reported deaths remain greater than 2023 (+4) and 2022 (+21), while they drop compared to the peaks of 2020 (601) and 2021 (543), marked by the pandemic. Compared to 2019, the numbers are substantially stopped.
If the cases are related to Istat employees, the incidence goes from 1.87 deaths reported every 100 thousand workers in 2019 to 1.78 in 2025 (-4.8%). Even the share of accidents “on the occasion of work” on the total of deaths remains stable, at 72%, almost unchanged compared to six years ago.
The drop concerns only women (from 27 to 23 fatal complaints), while for men the cases remain stable (from 408 to 409). The deaths among Italian workers (from 333 to 339) grow, while they are reduced among foreigners (from 102 to 93). Looking at age, it affects the growth of the deaths in the bands 30-34 years (+4 cases), 45-49 (+7) and above all 55-59 (+9). Instead, among the youngest ones (20-29 years, -8) fall among the over 59 (-10).
The increase in fatal accidents in itinere remains worrying, those that take place in the home-work journey. The complaints were 168 from January to July 2025: +24.4% compared to the same period of 2024 and slightly more than 2019. Today almost three out of ten deaths take place outside the workplace, during daily movements.
Where you die more
The balance varies a lot from one territory to another. In the south the dead increase (from 92 to 104), while they fall into the north-east (from 94 to 91), in the center (from 89 to 81) and in the islands (from 50 to 46). Veneto (+21), Piedmont and Basilicata (+6) mark the greatest increases.
As for the individual regions, the increases in Veneto (+21 dead), Piedmont and Basilicata (+6 each), Marche, Liguria and Campania (+5) stand out. On the other hand, significant drops in Emilia Romagna (-20), Lazio (-19) and Lombardy (-9). In Sicily and in the Autonomous Province of Trento, the complaints drop by four units.
Why do you still die of work?
Despite campaigns, laws, security protocols and words of circumstance, these numbers bring us back brutality to reality. But why do you continue to die in the workplace? The causes are always the same and talk to us about a country that cannot break the mechanisms that transform work into risk:
What remains to be done
Not only do you need new laws, but A cultural change that focuses on the life and dignity of workers. And it would be the time.
And above all, to ensure that each accident is not only a number, but an alarm bell that obliges to change procedures and responsibilities
The truth is simple and cruel: in Italy going to work still means running a risk. And as long as the numbers remain these, we will never be able to tell us a civilized country.
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