Participatory ergonomic design of a safety training tool for migrant workers in agriculture

In Italy, about 25% of the non-family labour force in agriculture is represented by migrant workers. This growing number is mirrored by a high rate of occupational injuries involving migrants. For the year 2011 statistics report 38.4 cases of injuries per 1,000 migrant workers, whereas the rate was 35.8 cases per 1,000 operators among Italian workers. Language and cultural differences represent a relevant obstacle to effective safety training. Based on these considerations, a project was developed in the Piedmont region (northwestern Italy) to design a safety training tool based on visual rather than verbal communication, specifically addressing migrant workers' needs. The project is currently ongoing and the present contribution describes the main framework and the first results. An ergonomic user-centred approach and different qualitative methods are used to develop the training tool. At present, 6 trainers have been interviewed and 3 focus groups carried out with a total of 15 migrant workers. The first results show that the concepts of hazard, risk, (near) accident and the farm safety management system are not well understood and retained by the workers, while it appears that they have some knowledge about the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The visual training tool is under development. Each prototype will be discussed with different focus groups with migrant workers and trainers, and the efficacy of the final version will be tested by means of a quasi-experimental study with repeated measures.