Citation

Perotti S, Russo MC. J. Forensic Leg. Med. 2018; 58: 122-125.

Affiliation

Institute of Forensic Legal Medicine, University of Brescia, Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25123, Brescia, Italy. Electronic address: mariacristina.russo3@libero.it.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jflm.2018.06.002

PMID

29908489

Abstract

Work-related deaths represent an important social problem. We report all the occupational fatal injuries recorded by the Brescia Institute of Forensic Medicine from 1982 to 2015. A total of 426 post-mortem examinations due to accidental work injuries were retrospectively analysed according to temporal distribution (year, month and day of the workplace accident); workers' characteristics (sex, age, nationality); type of occupation; cause of death; anatomical region of fatal injuries and timing of death. The accidental occupational events occurred with a mean of 12.5 cases per year. Almost all the workers were male (99%) and Italians (87%), aged between 35 and 49 years old (34.27%). The occupation with more fatalities was construction (36.62%), followed by mechanical industry (19.25%) and agriculture (13.15%). Most of deaths were connected to a mechanical trauma (77.69%) such as falls, machinery-related events, blunt forces or explosions. The predominant site of the lethal wound was the head (33.56%), with a high percentage of death resulting from a traumatic brain injury. In 30.75% of cases death occurred after a short period of hospitalization.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Autopsy; Occupational fatalities; Work-related fatal injuries; Workplace