"They are the victims of a system": in Italy, the scourge of deaths at work
By Laure Giuily , correspondent in Italy
Published on
A thousand coffins lined up in one of the most beautiful squares in the center of Rome: this is the shocking action organized on March 19, 2024, by a union to raise awareness of the tragedy of fatal workplace accidents. Stefano Carofei / PHOTOSHOT/MAXPPP
With 1,090 deaths in 2024, or about three per day, Italy is one of the European countries where the highest number of workplace deaths occur. Just weeks before a highly anticipated referendum to strengthen corporate liability in the event of an accident, victims' families and unions are mobilizing to raise public awareness.
On July 20, 2020, Maria Giulia and Stefano Fallone were to celebrate their nineteenth wedding anniversary. Around lunchtime, Maria Giulia heard her mother, who lived in the apartment above, burst into tears. She went up to see. All the TV news was talking about these two workers, who fell 20 meters and died instantly on a construction site in the center of Rome. Her parents understood immediately, but she didn't. "I couldn't believe it, I kept trying to call him to see if it was true, " she says, in tears. "It took me a long time to understand that my husband wasn't coming back."
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