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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1368991

Occupational accidents and the use of PPE: a global metaanalysis

Provisionally accepted
  • University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Occupational accidents, despite continuous safety updates, are still a scourge in the occupational and forensic spheres, constituting, among other things, the subject of a large share of litigation. Demographic data can help to understand the areas where the application of health surveillance is lacking. This meta-analysis sets out to analyse data from studies on accidents at work, focusing on the correlation between the areas in which accidents occur and whether or not personal safety equipment is used, in relation to the different regulations in force. For the selection of the data, a systematic review was carried out according to the PRISMA guidelines, with the primary objective of identifying the trend of occupational accidents in specific geographical areas, which differ in terms of the attention paid to preventive aspects. The data we highlighted showed, regarding the type of accident, substantial differences between low-income countries and industrialised countries (stratified according to the Human Development Index) and, an overall indifference as to whether or not individual safety devices were used, revealing that, despite the continuous normative evolution in the field of safety at work, even today, the investigative data on the actual application of the regulations, during accidents at work, is underestimated and little researched.

    Keywords: Work injuries, Work health, PPE, Work accidents. Overall fatal injuries 71% Work-related injuries 29%, Work injuries; Work health; PPE; Work accidents.

    Received: 11 Jan 2024; Accepted: 19 Mar 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Malta, Fruscione, Plescia, Argo and Cannizzaro. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ginevra Malta, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

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