THE TREND OF ACCIDENTS AT WORK AND OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES

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NR. 9 - SEPTEMBER

2020

ISSN 2035-5645

TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS: A MULTIFACETED AND DYNAMIC WORLD

THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR: AN ACCIDENT AT WORK BALANCE OVER THE LAST FIVE YEAR

PROFESSIONAL DISEASES IN THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR

INCENTIVES FOR COMPANIES IN THE TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS SECTOR

THE TREND OF ACCIDENTS AT WORK AND OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES

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2 Managing Director Mario G. Recupero

Chief Editor Alessandro Salvati

Editorial Staff

Diana Antimi Ciccarelli Raffaello Marcelloni Claudia Tesei E-mail

statisticoattuariale@inail.it Editorial Board

Adelina Brusco Giuseppe Bucci Andrea Bucciarelli Maria Rosaria Fizzano Raffaello Marcelloni Silvia Naldini Gina Romualdi Alessandro Salvati Liana Veronico Editors for this issue

Paolo Perone, Raffaello Marcelloni, Giuseppe Bucci, Silvia Amatucci

Tables by Andrea Bucciarelli Charts by Gina Romualdi Graphic layout by Claudia Tesei Translated by

Raffaello Marcelloni Paolo Perone

Note: Graphs, where not otherwise stated, are based on data provided by Inail

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September 2020 – n. 9

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Last July the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport published the volume containing the

"statistical surveys of infrastructure and transport for the years 2018 and 2019", known as Conto Nazionale dei Trasporti (CNIT). It is a ponderous work, very rich in various data and statistics, concerning all the activities of freight and passenger transport (but also of pleasure boating, of car market, of driving examinations, of shipbuilding, of road-, sea-, rail- and air-accidents, of building construction market, and much more) as well as data from road and rail networks, ports, interports and airports, and trans-European transport networks (TEN-T).

According to data released by Istat¹, in terms of added value, the sector produced around 91,8 billion euros (at current prices) in 2019, which corresponds to 7,7% of the added value of the entire service sector (1.184,8 billion euros) and to 5,7% of the added value of the Italian economy as a whole (1.602,2 billion euros).

In terms of employment, the sector gave work to 1,2 million people in 2019, both employed and self-employed (4,7% of total employment), more than half of whom were employed in land transport (rail, road and pipeline), a third in warehousing and support activities, less than 8% in postal and express courier activities, while almost 5% worked in maritime transport and less than 2% in air transport.

If we analyze the trend of the last five years, between 2015 and 2019 employment in the sector grew by 6,4% (6,1% in terms of AWU, standard annual work units), compared to an increase of 4,0%

in the total economy (3,0% considering AWU), thus indicating a greater growth and vitality. The breakdown for the five sub-sectors is only available until 2018, but it is nevertheless interesting to note that in the four-year period the growth in employment was similar to the sector index for three of them, but was significantly lower for air transport (just 1,5%) and even negative (-4,1%) for postal and express courier services, despite the impressive growth of the e-commerce.

1 CNIT also contains data on the sub-sectors for the year 2019, estimated directly by the Ministry; in the following text, however, only the official national accounts data published in September 2020 have been used, which provide details of the sub-sectors only until 2018, since they are more recent data and have involved a revision of many aggregates for the years 2018 and 2019.

TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS: A

MULTIFACETED AND DYNAMIC WORLD

WORKERS IN TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE SECTOR, BY SUB-SECTOR ATECO 2007 - YEAR 2018

Source: Istat - National Accounts

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In fact, the sales index (based on 2015 = 100) in years 2015-2019 showed an increase of 8,3%

compared to 7,6% for all private services. As for the single sub-sectors, the increase in sales in the five-year period was considerable for air transport (11,8%) and especially, as mentioned above, for postal and courier services (13,2%), as well as warehousing and other ancillary activities (9,3%); it was in line with the sector as a whole for the multifaceted world of land transport (7,3%), while transport by sea or inland waterways was below average (3,3%).

The dynamism of the sector is also proofed by the trend in added value, which in the period 2015-2019 grew by 8,2% compared to 3,5% for services as a whole and 4,2% for the economy as a whole.

Istat structural statistics tell us that in 2018 there were almost 121 thousand active companies in the sector, of which over 106 thousand with less than 10 employees (88,1%), employing on average 1.129 thousand people, most of whom (41,3%) were employees of large companies with more than 250 employees.

WORKERS IN TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE SECTOR, BY SUB-SECTOR AND YEAR ATECO 2007 - THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE

ADDED VALUE (AT BASE PRICES) BY ACTIVITY BRANCH AND YEAR MILLIONS EURO, DATA DEFLATED AND REFERRED TO 2015

Activity branch 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

transport by land and pipelines 44.161,9 44.111,5 45.185,6 44.757,4 ..

transport by sea and inland waterways 3.868,8 4.703,4 5.701,7 5.393,3 ..

transport by air 705,2 1.755,0 2.098,0 2.485,5 ..

storage, warehousing and support activities 29.198,8 29.476,3 31.163,6 31.815,0 ..

postal service and express courier 3.629,1 3.590,0 3.700,2 3.151,1 ..

Total Transportation and Storage ^(*) 81.563,9 83.636,2 87.652,7 87.533,1 88.227,0

Services 1.108.614,9 1.119.540,7 1.134.498,7 1.141.533,6 1.147.140,3

Total Economy 1.488.049,0 1.508.257,3 1.532.443,1 1.547.060,1 1.551.113,3 Source: Istat - National Accounts

(*) Being deflated and related to 2015 data, the sum of values of a single variable may not be equal to the deflated and referred to 2015 value of the variable as a whole.

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The average number of employees per company was 9,3 rising from a minimum of 2,1 employees in small firms to a maximum of 1.203,7 in large businesses (therefore very similar sizes to the rest of the Italian economy). In the next few years the trend towards a reduction in the number of active companies and particularly in the number of employees will almost surely continue, in order to achieve more robust soundness, lower costs and greater competitiveness on the international scene.

Paolo Perone

NUMBER OF ACTIVE ENTERPRISES AND EMPLOYEES IN TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE SECTOR BY DIMENSION CLASS - ATECO 2007 - YEAR 2018

Dimension class

Average number of employees per

enterprise

0-9 106.372 88,1% 223.388 19,8% 2

10-49 11.913 9,9% 232.641 20,6% 20

50-249 2.107 1,7% 207.034 18,3% 98

250 e più 387 0,3% 465.826 41,3% 1.204

Total 120.779 100,0% 1.128.890 100,0% 9

Number of employees (yearly average) Number of active enterprises

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THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR: AN ACCIDENT AT WORK BALANCE OVER THE LAST FIVE YEAR

The transportation sector has historically been one of the most hazardous with regard to accidents at work.

This section includes all land, sea or air transportation activities, both for passengers and goods.

It includes ancillary activities such as terminal services, car parks, goods handling and storage centers, as well as the rental of means of transport with driver, postal activities and courier services.

From the point of view of accident at work, Transportation is second only to Manufacturing and Commerce. In the five-year period 2015-2019, they in fact accounted for an average of 11% of the total claims number with the NACE sector determined.

Considering only the fatal cases, the share rises to 15% and is preceded, in this case, by the manufacturing and construction activities.

In the aforementioned period, apart from the year 2016 alone, when accident claims increased by 3% compared to the previous year, the sector trend in any case recorded an overall decline of 6%, going from almost 42 thousand cases to just over 39 thousand.

In the case of claims with a fatal outcome, the trend is much more marked and in the period between 2015 and 2019 the decrease was 22,9% (from 144 to 111 cases).

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

ACCIDENT AT WORK CLAIMS BY NACE CLASSIFICATION - YEARS 2015 - 2019

Total Fatal cases

Source: Inail databases - updated at 30.04.2020

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The risk of injury, related to the gender of the workers in the transportation sector, appears to be predominantly male. In fact, in all the years between 2015 and 2019, the share of accidents reported by male workers has always remained just above 80%.

Observing the phenomenon from the point of view of the ways in which accidents may occur, it can be seen that most of them occur mainly at the workplace itself. The five-year average indicates that 85% of cases occurred during the course of work, while only the remaining 15% took place on the way home-work-home.

Contrary to what one might imagine, by analyzing the dynamics of only the cases that occurred during work and deepening the research in the field of accidents for which the ESAW variable "Physical activity" has been attributed (approximately 75% of the total cases occurred in the course of work in the transportation sector), the involvement of a means of transportation is not the main cause of injury.

Considering the five-year period 2015-2019, it appears that only 21,2% actually took place “Driving or on board” of a vehicle. The other activities most responsible for the injurious cases are the simple

"Movement" for 35,4% (walking, running or jumping; lifting or pulling objects; moving in place to move objects) but also "Manual transportation" for a 16,1% (placement of objects or transportation carried out solely by hand without the aid of any type of equipment) and the "Handling of objects" for 14,7%

(ie picking up or grasping the materials to be transported. Handling of objects, when connected to a transport, generally takes place before and/or after the transportation itself but not during).

With regard to accidents with a fatal outcome, however, driving a means of transport assumes much greater importance. In the same five-year period, according to the statistics for the aforementioned ESAW variable, they represent 58,5% of the coded total.

Raffaello Marcelloni

ACCIDENT A T WORK TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE SECTOR NACE CLASSIFICATION 2007 YEARS 2015 - 2019

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 var %

2019/2015

Claims 41.819 43.058 42.994 41.177 39.313

% compared to previous year 3,0% -0,1% -4,2% -4,5% -6,0%

of which fatal cases 144 133 135 158 111

% compared to previous year -7,6% 1,5% 17,0% -29,7% -22,9%

ACCIDENT AT WORK CLAIMS BY ESAW CLASSIFICATION - VARIABLE "SPECIFIC PHYSICAL ACTIVITY" - YEARS 2019

Total Fatal cases

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PROFESSIONAL DISEASES IN THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR

The transportation sector has always been of great importance for its innumerable commercial, cultural, military and social implications. Unfortunately, however, the health risks for those working in this sector are many. Think of the long working hours and rhythms, the unloading and loading operations, the need to drive obsolete trucks that often travel on bad roads, to which is added the fatigue caused by vibrations and noise. All this involves being subjected to high stress, fatigue, musculoskeletal disorders which represent some of the different factors that make this job unhealthy for those who do it.

Analyzing the data by NACE classification: H Sector, relating precisely to transportation and storage, it can be seen how, as of April 2020 update, the claims for occupational diseases in 2019 were 2.693, with an increase of 9,2% compared to 2018. This figure is in contrast with the previous two years, in which there was a decrease in claims. From a long- term analysis, however, it can be seen that, with fewer than three exceptions, 2017 and 2018 and 2012, the increase in claims for occupational diseases between 2009 and 2019 has been almost constant, and that these are more than doubled over the past 10 years. It should be noted that this trend does not differ much from what happened for occupational diseases as a whole, in fact, in the same period, the cases for all Ateco Sectors increased from 35.000 to over 61.000. Returning to the transportation and storage sector, among the pathologies reported in 2019, the majority concerned diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue, 2.173, over 81% of the total cases with a defined technopathy. Of these, 64% is represented by back disease (1.397 cases), and 30% by soft tissue disorders (647 cases).

Diseases of the nervous system (151 cases) and ear (130 cases) follow. Tumors account for 3,3% of claims (+10% compared to last year), corresponding to 88 cases, of which 33 mesothelial and soft tissue tumors and 27 respiratory system tumors. At last, diseases of the respiratory system are still numerically significant, with 76 cases.

The numbers of other reported pathologies are marginal: mental disorders, diseases of the digestive system and the circulatory system. If we consider the positively defined cases, those of 2019 were 558, only 21% of the cases reported, while the average of the previous 4 years (2015/2018) was 32%. Obviously, in this case, the rather long times necessary for the definition of a reported case of occupational disease are discounted, this value is therefore destined to grow. The distribution by pathology of these 558 cases, even if for clearly much lower absolute values, is similar to that of

PROFESSIONAL NOTES

CLAIMS FOR OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES BY DEGREE OF IMAPIRMENT YEAR 2019

OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES BY YEAR OF CLAIM

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claims, with tumors second, which is fourth, among the recognized pathologies, behind the diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue that they even represent 83% of positive cases.

Analyzing the severity of the compensated occupational diseases in 2019 (422 workers), it can also be appreciated that 1,4% are temporary compensation; 76,8% are permanent with a lump sum compensation (with a degree of impairment therefore between 6% and 15%); 19,4% are permanent and compensated with annuities (from 16% to 100%); 2,4% are fatal (corresponding to 10 workers).

At the end, evaluating the NACE sub-categories relating to transportation only, therefore excluding warehousing, these represent 60% of the cases reported overall (1.624) corresponding to 1.261 diseased workers. Of these, as it is easy to imagine, over 97% are male, while 7% (91) are foreign workers. The age at which claims are concentrated is between 56 and 63 years, which includes 47%

of total workers.

Giuseppe Bucci

OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES CLAIMS BY TYPE OF DISEASE (CLAIMED ICDX CODE) - YEARS 2015-2019 NACE SECTOR: TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE

Type of disease (cod. ICDX) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 var%

2019/2015 Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (M00–M99) 1.988 2.152 2.065 1.947 2.173 9,3%

of which: - Dorsopathies (M40-M54) 1.365 1.466 1.368 1.298 1.397 2,3%

- Soft tissue disorders (M60–M79) 482 536 565 522 647 34,2%

Diseases of the nervous system (G00–G99) 159 167 162 141 151 -5,0%

of which: - Nerve, nerve root and plexus disorders (G50–G59) 156 166 159 140 149 -4,5%

Diseases of the ear and mastoid process (H60–H95) 148 122 137 131 130 -12,2%

OF WHICH: - Diseases of inner ear (H80–H83) 136 109 124 121 121 -11,0%

Neoplasms (C00–D48) 79 90 87 80 88 11,4%

of which: - Malignant neoplasms of mesothelial and soft tissue (C45–C49) 36 31 26 24 33 -8,3%

- Malignant neoplasms of respiratory and intrathoracic organs (C30–C39) 22 36 23 27 27 22,7%

Diseases of the respiratory system (J00–J99) 95 98 96 88 76 -20,0%

Total 2.574 2.717 2.622 2.466 2.693 4,6%

Var. % on previous year 5,6% -3,5% -5,9% 9,2%

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INCENTIVES FOR COMPANIES IN THE TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS SECTOR

By guaranteeing the supply chains of the entire industrial production and managing the flow of people and goods all over the world, the Transport and Logistics sector is highly articulated.

In fact, it includes companies that provide transport services for goods or people, by any means (cars, vans, trucks, trains, planes, ships), but also companies that offer logistics services such as warehousing and transport planning and management operations. There are also companies that provide services such as distribution, storage, handling and packaging of goods.

The professional figures involved, with their job experience, are widely numerous too. Although the introduction and spread of new technologies such as automation, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) can speed up transports and make logistics services more economical and productive, job shifts might be particularly demanding and tiring, leading to a high risk of injury.

In order to counter this risk, Inail has implemented many initiatives, including incentives for companies to improve health and safety conditions in the workplace. Since 2010 about 500 firms active in the Transportation and Storage sector have participated to the ISI tender notices each year, for a total of 4,700 enterprises, with projects worth over 637,5 million euros.

1,020 companies have been admitted to financing with an average amount equal to about 63 thousand euros.

INAIL WORLD

PROJECTS ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING, BY REGION OF THE ENTERPRISE - ISI 2010-2018

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57% of companies have chosen to finance projects to reduce or neutralise the causes of accidents or professional disease, 22% to adopt occupational health and safety (OHS) management systems and 15% to eliminate the risk arising from the presence of asbestos in plants. Although overall the period just 3% of businesses have chosen projects to reduce the risk associated with the manual handling of loads, it is worth noting that since it was possible to choose this type of project, i.e. from ISI 2017, the percentage has stood at almost 30%.

Over the years, Inail has increasingly encouraged the participation of small firms with a high accident risk, so that 47% of enterprises which got a financing has less than 10 employees, and 64%

of them are businesses with a high risk level.

It should be noted that until today more than 27 million euros have been paid out, which made possible to finance almost 50% of the total number of eligible projects.

Silvia Amatucci

PROJECTS ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING, BY DIMENSION CLASS OF THE ENTERPRISE ISI 2010-2018