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The report is the thrird and final deliverable of the project is performed within the contract for intellectual services relative to "A study on an ergonomic approach for the assessment of the potential mismatch between farmers' strength capabilities and forces required in raising and lowering foldable ROPS"

Presentazione dei dati di incidenti di lavoro in agricoltura, in particolare legati all'impiego di macchine, in relazione alle caratteristiche del sistema produttivo agricolo nazionale.

In Piemonte lavoratori immigrati rappresentano il 53.5% della forza lavoro non familiare (Media nazionale circa 25 %) Un fattore di rischio critico dei lavoratori immigrati riguarda la scarsa conoscenza della lingua italiana e quindi la conseguente difficoltà nella comprensione di tutta la comunicazione interna inerente la sicurezza (dai segnali di pericolo alle procedure, dalle istruzioni sul funzionamento di macchine o impianti all'etichettatura di prodotti chimici, e così via). Il D.Lgs 81/08, all'art. 36 afferma: "Il datore di lavoro provvede affinché ciascun lavoratore riceva una adeguata informazione (...) Il contenuto della informazione deve essere facilmente comprensibile per i lavoratori e deve consentire loro di acquisire le relative conoscenze. Ove la informazione riguardi lavoratori immigrati, essa avviene previa verifica della comprensione della lingua utilizzata nel percorso informativo." L'art. 37 del medesimo D.Lgs. stabilisce inoltre che "Il contenuto della formazione deve essere facilmente comprensibile per i lavoratori e deve consentire loro di acquisire le conoscenze e competenze necessarie in materia di salute e sicurezza sul lavoro. Ove la formazione riguardi lavoratori immigrati, essa avviene previa verifica della comprensione e conoscenza della lingua veicolare utilizzata nel percorso formativo (...)." Lo studio è realizzato mediante un approccio scientifico basato su un disegno di ricerca quasi sperimentale con gruppi di controllo non equivalenti e con valutazione ripetuta nel tempo (pre-intervento, post-intervento e follow up).

Agriculture is one of the most hazardous sectors in both developing and industrialized countries. In the European Union (EU) agriculture activity is in 3rd place for injuries and deaths at workplace after manufacturing industry and construction. Machines are the most important responsible of injuries and fatalities in agriculture. Enhancement of occupational safety is one of the main objective of the European legislation. The European Directive 2010/52/EU introduces requirements for technical solutions to be adopted on agricultural tractors to provide protection to the driver against risk of falling objects that can occur carrying out normal operations in some agricultural tasks. When there is a risk for the driver because of falling object the tractor driving station has to be equipped of Falling Object Protective Structure (FOPS). The roofs of agricultural tractors act as FOPS. They are rarely made of metal, nearly often they are made of PolyEthylene (PE) or Sheet Molding Compound (SMC). Experimental trials have been carried out to investigate the effectiveness and behavior of the PE and SMC overhead protective structures fitted on agricultural tractors. Tests have been performed on cabs and rear roll-bars with cantilever overhead protections. The effectiveness of the FOPS has been assessed in accordance to standards OECD Code 10. The experimental trials showed that the prototype of PE and SMC FOPS do not always satisfy the safety requirements requested by the reference standard. To enhance the protection of the driver against the falling object risk is requested to improve the design and the construction specifications of the PE and SMC roofs to increase their strength.

This study investigated the extent to which a sample of Italian users comprehended safety pictorials used on agricultural machinery. A questionnaire with 12 safety pictorials was administered to 248 users of agricultural machinery. For each of the pictorials, the participants were asked to select the most appropriate description of four written choices. The investigated safety pictorials were, in general, not well comprehended. Two different classes of participants were identified, each with a different level of comprehension. The participants with better comprehension were characterized by the regular use of agricultural machinery and frequent previous exposure to pictorials. The need for training courses focusing on safety pictorials and their meanings, as well as the need for improvement to the pictorials themselves to make them more easily comprehended, is discussed.

Objectives Migrant farmworkers report higher rates of work-related illnesses, injuries and fatalities compared with local workers. Language and cultural barriers represent a relevant source of risk, which can be reduced by means of targeted training interventions. However, very little evidence is available about the effectiveness of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) training programmes addressing migrant farmworkers. Study design We carried out a scoping review. Methods Currently available literature about the effectiveness of OSH training for migrant farmworkers—in terms of improvements in at least one of the following: safety knowledge, behaviours, attitudes and beliefs and health outcomes—was searched from four databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of Science. The screening was performed independently by two authors, and any disagreement was resolved through discussion until consensus was achieved. Once the articles eligible for inclusion were selected, the objectives, design, sample and setting, interventions and findings of each study were recorded. No quality assessment tool for publications considered by this study has been used because a scoping review does not aim for critical appraisal. Results Twenty-nine publications met the inclusion criteria. Of these, nine cross-sectional studies discussed the effectiveness of training activities in terms of whether participating in any programme had or did not have a significant effect on the dependent variables, when training was considered along with other sociodemographic factors. In the majority of these studies, training appeared to have low or no effect on the dependent variables considered. Twenty mainly within-subject experimental studies addressed the effectiveness of specific training methods, reporting significant improvements especially for interventions based on a participatory approach. Conclusions Training could greatly contribute to an effective attainment of OSH information, but the present review shows that more evidence is needed to guide the future development of effective training activities.

In Italy, about 25% of the non-family labour force in agriculture is represented by migrant workers. This growing number is mirrored by a high rate of occupational injuries involving migrants. For the year 2011 statistics report 38.4 cases of injuries per 1,000 migrant workers, whereas the rate was 35.8 cases per 1,000 operators among Italian workers. Language and cultural differences represent a relevant obstacle to effective safety training. Based on these considerations, a project was developed in the Piedmont region (northwestern Italy) to design a safety training tool based on visual rather than verbal communication, specifically addressing migrant workers’ needs. The project is currently ongoing and the present contribution describes the main framework and the first results. An ergonomic user-centred approach and different qualitative methods are used to develop the training tool. At present, 6 trainers have been interviewed and 3 focus groups carried out with a total of 15 migrant workers. The first results show that the concepts of hazard, risk, (near) accident and the farm safety management system are not well understood and retained by the workers, while it appears that they have some knowledge about the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The visual training tool is under development. Each prototype will be discussed with different focus groups with migrant workers and trainers, and the efficacy of the final version will be tested by means of a quasi-experimental study with repeated measures.