Lights and Shadows of Agricultural Workplace Safety Legislation in the Main EU Member States

The work aims to analyse from a comparative point of view the legislation on health and safety in the workplace of the four European Member States with the highest number of accidents at work. The Member States chosen for the study are Germany, Spain, France and Italy which alone in 2021 recorded over 2 million accidents in the workplace and over 100 thousand in the agroforestry sector alone. First, the trend of accidents in the agroforestry sector from 2017 to 2021 was analysed: this analysis was fundamental to understand the trend of accidents in the Member States and understand the causes of the high numbers of accidents. Through a legislative comparison, we attempted to understand the similarities and differences in the various regulations of the sector in the Member Countries examined, trying to understand gaps and ideas for future improvement. The various legal structures, dual or single, of the four Member States were also examined, trying to understand which the most efficient and effective way is to limit accidents and deaths at work as much as possible, particularly in the agroforestry sector.