Immigrant workers in the construction sector in italy: impact on safety and health

Abstract

The profound changes that have taken place in Italian society have led to very strong changes in the labor market which is segmented,  heterogeneous, outsourced and characterized by the growth of medium and medium-small businesses where the implementation of current legislation on safety in the workplace is often neglected and occupational risks are underestimated. The disadvantage in which immigrant workers find themselves is greater than Italian workers for various reasons, as well as for social  issues also due to problems of linguistic understanding. Understanding security measures is also a purely linguistic fact and this is  certainly a crucial aspect especially in the early stages of job placement and in job changes, the perceived difficulties at the level of  linguistic communication are particularly felt by immigrant workers, not by chance. the request for information in the original  language appears widespread. It would be advisable to build training courses tailored to the needs of immigrants, compulsory  language preparation courses, specific courses connected in particular to the risk sectors in which they find themselves and aimed at making their culture of safety at work dialogue with the Italian one.