The Figure of the Workers’ Representative for Safety and Health (WHSR) in Agriculture: A Survey in Some Italian Regions

The Workers’ Representative for Safety and Health (WHSR) plays a very important role: his impact on safety in the agricultural sector has not been assessed. The aim of this work is therefore to learn more about the figure of the agricultural WHSR. The research was developed on different techniques aimed at establishing contact with the WHSR and the creation and distribution of a questionnaire to understand the preparation and type of WHSR consisting of 47 questions. According to the data obtained from the questionnaires, 92% of the respondents were male and 85% were of Italian nationality, with 41% having a high school diploma, 37% a middle school diploma, and 15% a university degree. As regards the finding of the information necessary for the activity of WHSR, a very varied distribution was observed, with a significant proportion of subjects (16%) turning mainly to patronages and trade associations, but also WHSR obtaining the specific information directly from information sheets or legislation (11%). Analysing the single groups of items in the first group, “training in occupational safety and health”, we note that as many as 83% of the WHSR have attended safety courses of various titles and often many more than just one, but also others such as “first aid course”, “fire-fighting course”, etc. In fact, most of them know the “safety procedures” (93%) and the operational figures at work (responsible for the prevention and protection service; competent physician; employer) with a percentage of 95%