Occupational accidents among immigrant workers in the Fabriano areas.

BACKGROUND: The growing contribution of immigrant workers to the national economy particularly affects the trend of accidents at work. Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the trend of work accidents in the Local Health Area No. 6 - Fabriano (Marche Region), during the period 2000-2003; to define the frequency for each job sector, age, gender, type of work, severity, month, day and week and time of day; to calculate the incidence rate for each year taken into consideration. METHODS: The sources of information used were: 1) The "New Informative Flows" database set up by Italian National Institute of Insurance for Occupational Injury (INAIL), Italian Superior Institute for Work Prevention and Safety (ISPESL) and Regional Governments, and the "EPIWORK software", for the total number of occupational accidents among immigrant workers. 2) The local Jobs and Training Centre of Fabriano. We used three different correction indexes to evaluate the number of hired workers so as to estimate the rate of accident incidence among immigrant workers. RESULTS: The total number of occupational accidents reached its peak in 2001 as a result of the rise in the number of employed people. After this date, the trend started to reverse and in 2002 an increase in the number of employed people--although smaller compared to the previous year--was accompanied by a reduction in the overall number of accidents, a reduction that became even more evident in 2003. Occupational accidents among immigrant workers gradually rose and peaked in 2002. The sectors with high rates of accidents were the mechanical engineering and metallurgic sectors and the construction industry. Accidents occurred mainly among young people (18 to 34years old). As for gender, there was a marked prevalence of men (83.3%) over women (16.7%). Most accidents had a prognosis of 8 to 30 days. The number ofoccupational accidents with a prognosis of 8 to 30 days fell progressively for workers in general but gradually rose for immigrant workers with a peak in 2001. The overall number of occupational accidents that caused permanent invalidity fell by 52.3% for the workforce in general, and by 25% among immigrant workers. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that immigrant workers employed in the Fabriano area had a higher risk of accidents at work