Press release no. 22/2016

INAIL financing to counter accidents in agriculture

As of tomorrow, farmers interested in help for the purchase of machinery with high safety standards can file a pre-registration form on the website of INAIL, managing funds of € 45 million available. An conference on EIMA outlines the institute’s history dating back a hundred years.

Pre-registration for applying for INAIL funds for the purchase of agricultural machinery. The government has allocated € 45 million and delegated INAIL, the National Workers Accident Insurance Institute, for the distribution of the funds. Preparing for the launch of the procedure, the institute held a conference this afternoon in Bologna within EIMA International under the heading Professional Accidents and Illness in Agriculture: The Evolution of INAIL Norms, Increase of the Phenomena and Financial Performance and reported data and information on the work of the institute.

The number of accidents in farming in Italy is second only to that of the construction sector and leads in industry and services. Over these past fifty years these agriculture accidents have sharply declined from 255,941 in 1955 to 37,969 in 2015. In 1955 fatal accidents came to 1.210 and in 2015 reached only 164, of which 102 were ascertained by the insurance institute. Looking at only the past five years, accidents fell by 19.4% and deaths by 10.9%. INAIL said men account for 80% of the accidents reported and women for the other 20%. Accidents occur with greater frequency in the north of the country and more markedly in the northeast.

The meeting sponsored by INAIL was also an occasion for learning about the evolution of safety regulations and on the job accidents one year before the 1917 centennial of the introduction insurance for farm workers. Also dealt with was analyses of the evolution of accidents and pathologies typical of the sector considered high risk and an illustration of the institute’s economic performance regarding the victims of agriculture accidents. The seminar also moved on to the details of financing the acquisition of agricultural machinery with high levels of safety which opens tomorrow for completing application procedures assigning the funds to be leased in the early months of next year. All the information needed is available at the INAIL stand at the trade fair.

Bologna, 9 November 2016

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