Citation

Bagagiolo G, Vigoroso L, Caffaro F, Cremasco MM, Cavallo E. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019; 16(21): e16214180.

Affiliation

Institute for Agricultural and Earthmoving Machines (IMAMOTER), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 10135 Torino, Italy. eugenio.cavallo@cnr.it.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph16214180

PMID

31671852

Abstract

The comprehension of safety signs affixed to agricultural machinery is fundamental to warning users about the residual risks which cannot be eliminated with machinery design and the adoption of protections. This is particularly relevant for the migrant workforce, which may encounter some language barriers with written safety communication. The present study aimed to investigate the comprehension of safety signs affixed to agricultural machinery in a group of migrants from both European and non-European countries employed in Italian agriculture. Thirty-seven migrant farmworkers (12 Indians, 17 Pakistanis, and eight Romanians) were individually interviewed to test the comprehension of four safety signs referring to the main causes of fatal and non-fatal injuries caused by interactions with farm machinery. Romanians obtained the highest comprehension performance (68.8% of correct answers), followed by Indians (35.4%), with Pakistanis being last (32.4%). The nationality and the previous experience as a farmworker significantly affected the comprehension of safety signs. The results pointed out the importance of adequately training migrants on the meaning of safety signs. Beside this, the study suggests a redesign of the signs, considering some signs' features to enhance pictorials' cross-cultural comprehension.

Language: en

Keywords

agricultural accidents; migrant workforce; occupational safety; pictorials; risk communication