Fatal accidents at work in Europe

Between 2010 and 2020 the value of accidents at work decreased from an amount of 2.64 to a value of 2.01 units or a reduction equal to an amount of -23.71%. Of course, accidents in the workplace depend above all on the percentage of workers who work in sectors that can be considered dangerous, such as agriculture and construction. Indeed, countries that have a significant proportion of workers employed in the service sector also have a lower incidence of occupational accidents. Furthermore, there are other factors that can have an impact on the growth of the value of accidents at work such as, for example, the lack of adequate accident prevention legislation, the lack of a corporate culture of occupational safety, the poor professional qualification of workers on occupational safety issues. Furthermore, it is very probable that the value of accidents at work in Italy and Greece is much higher than that declared due to the presence of undeclared work especially in agriculture and construction. It therefore follows that the essential determinant for the reduction of accidents in the workplace is connected to the culture of safety and the adoption of anti-accident measures in companies. Finally, it is highly probable that at least a part of work accidents, especially in Italy, are not true and constitute real scams carried out to the detriment of social insurance. Therefore, more stringent controls are needed to prevent, on the one hand, undeclared workers from being overexposed to the risk of accidents and, on the other hand, regular workers from cheating on social insurance to pocket subsidies. Net of these two phenomena, there is a general need for a growth in social protection devices against accidents at work with targeted actions towards companies, with specific certification, and with the use of digital tools to verify the adoption of adequate safety procedures in the execution of the works