Four deaths in four provinces
On Wednesday, 4 November, four workers died in separate incidents in Italy, from the Salento to the Venetian lagoon. A fifth victim, a worker injured earlier in the week, died in hospital, according to the reporting. The Veneto, Campania, Emilia-Romagna and Puglia regions were all affected.
In Casarano, in the province of Lecce, Bashkim Rushani, a 61-year-old building firm owner born in Durrës, Albania, was killed when a sliding gate collapsed onto him while he was rebuilding its supporting pillars at a villa. The Lecce prosecutor's office opened a file for manslaughter against unknown persons and ordered an autopsy. Local CGIL secretary Tommaso Moscara said the death was the ninth workplace fatality in the province in 2026.
Marghera and the shipyard
In Porto Marghera, a 34-year-old Romanian worker died inside a ship under construction at the Fincantieri shipyard around 11 in the morning. Two colleagues fell ill and were treated by the Suem 118 emergency service, one of them a Fincantieri rescuer who had gone to help. Firefighters' chemical, biological and radiological unit carried out measurements and sampling, the area was sealed off and related work was suspended as a precaution. The cause of death is still under investigation.
Benevento and Piacenza
In San Leucio del Sannio, in the province of Benevento, a young migrant worker from Cameroon, aged 25, fell from a ladder inside a company that processes aggregates and crushes stone. Rescue services could not save him, and carabinieri opened an inquiry into the sequence of events. The UIL union said it would join the proceedings as a civil party.
In San Nicolò, in the province of Piacenza, a 54-year-old employee of Iren was struck by a car while reading water meters from a manhole in front of a home. The car was manoeuvring to enter a garage area. He died at the scene despite rapid help from the 118 service, and carabinieri from the provincial company led the investigation.
Toll for 2026
Union leaders pointed to national figures. INAIL data cited by ANSA put the 2026 toll above 700, with about 404,809 total accident reports, up 5.4% on last year. Between January and September, INAIL recorded 589 fatal workplace accidents, 19 more than in the same period of 2025, with 91 in September alone. Earlier in the week, a 57-year-old worker was crushed by a press at a cardboard factory in Fabriano in the Marche region, and a worker died after a platform carrying a crane capsized on Lake Garda.
Brenner Base Tunnel
In a separate incident on Monday, 2 November, a 48-year-old worker was struck by a stack of precast concrete elements at the Austrian side of the Brenner Base Tunnel construction site in Steinach am Brenner, Tyrol. He died at the university clinic in Innsbruck. The Fillea/CGIL union in South Tyrol said it was the sixth fatal accident on the project since work began, and all of them occurred on the Austrian side. Marco Nardini, the union's secretary general, said shifts of up to 12 hours a day were a deadly risk and called for eight-hour shifts.
The fatigue and loss of attention in such complex settings as underground excavation are deadly risk factors.