ROME: A thousand coffins filled one of Rome’s most beautiful squares on Tuesday as a trade union made a powerful statement on the number of deaths in work-related accidents.

“Every year, one thousand people go to work and don’t come home,” read a large sign displayed next to the 1,041 cardboard coffins set up around the obelisk in the centre of the Piazza del Popolo.

“Zero is still too far away,” read another sign in the square as curious tourists took snapshots. Last year, 1,041 people died in workplace accidents in Italy.

“We brought these coffins here to raise awareness, to remind everyone of the need to act, to not forget those who have lost their lives,” Pierpaolo Bombardini, general secretary of the UIL union behind the protest told AFPTV.

The protest was also intended “to ask the government and politicians to do something concrete to prevent these homicides” he added.

“Because these are homicides. When safety rules are violated, they are not accidents, but homicides.” Fatal accidents in the workplace regularly make headlines in the Italian press, each time sparking a debate on risk prevention. Most recently a concrete structure collapsed on the construction site of a supermarket in Florence last month, killing five workers.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced it as “another story... of people who go out to work, who simply go out to do their job, and do not come home”. Bombardini called for an increase in the number of inspections and inspectors.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2024