Italy sees two more fatal workplace accidents

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 18 - Italy on Tuesday saw two more fatal workplace accidents amid a recent spate that has spurred calls for moves to up safety at work.
    In the first accident Tuesday, a 49-year-old man, Armando Rocco Mita, was crushed to death instantly when his tractor overturned in the fields at San Mauro Forte near Matera in Basilicata.
    The accident took place in a hilly area, police said.
    An autopsy has been ordered.
    In the second accident, a 51-year-old worker died when the steel gate he was mounting at a building site came untethered and crushed him to death near Piacenza.
    He was hit in the head, police said.
    The accident took place at Croara.
    An autopsy has also been ordered.
    A 53-year-old factory worker was run over and killed by a reversing lorry in the courtyard of a factory near Bergamo on Monday, the latest in the spate of workplace deaths that have spurred calls for greater action to assure safety on the job in Italy.
    The accident, which took place at Spirano, follows the deaths of Maurizo Gritti and Marco Oldrati, also in the province of Bergamo, on May 6 and 8 respectively.
    But it was the May 5 death in a textile machine accident near Prato of the 22-year-old mother of a five-year-old son, Luana D'Orazio, that really placed the issue front and centre in Italian political and public debate.
    Premier Mario Draghi said last week that more must be done on workplace safety after the deaths of D'Orazio and at least five others in the space of a week.
    Over 2,000 additional workplace safety inspectors will be hired adding to the 4,500 now on duty, he said. (ANSA).