Two workers die in separate accidents in Salento and Benevento province

A sliding gate crushes a construction firm owner in Casarano

A 61-year-old man who ran a construction firm in Casarano, in Lecce province, died on the morning of 4 November after a sliding gate struck him. He was working on the reconstruction of several pillars that supported the gate when it came down on him. Carabinieri attended the scene, but rescuers could do nothing to save him. Rai places the accident during work at a private home in the Spagnolo area of Casarano. Tommaso Moscara, secretary general of the CGIL union in Lecce, said the death was the ninth worker killed in the Salento area in 2026.

A ladder fall at a company in San Leucio del Sannio

A 25-year-old man from Cameroon, employed by a company in San Leucio del Sannio in the Benevento area, died after falling from a ladder inside the firm. The company works in the processing of aggregates and crushed stone. Rescuers from the 118 emergency service could not save him. Carabinieri are investigating, and how the accident happened is still being established. Both deaths were reported on 4 November.

Official figures on workplace injuries

The Inail data published on 3 November show 3,589 injuries reported in Lecce province in the first nine months of 2026, an average of almost 14 reports a day. Eight fatal workplace injuries had been recorded by 30 September, and the Casarano death comes on top of that count. Over the past 10 years, 149 workers died in the Salento area and 818 in Puglia. When the count starts in 2010, the figures rise to 252 for Salento and 1,450 for Puglia.

Union calls for prevention and stricter enforcement

Moscara pointed to the injury figures as evidence of how widespread the problem is. In the days before 4 November, he said, serious accidents at Maglie, Porto Cesareo and Galatone were prevented from becoming fatal only by chance.

“The numbers are alarming.”

He called for prevention and training, along with more careful laws and tighter inspections. He said workplace accidents usually have several overlapping causes, including cultural, equipment-related and contractual ones.

“Safety rules and the protection of health must become part of every company's and every worker's responsibility and competence, because dying at work is unacceptable.”