Work in cemeteries should be considered a strenuous job

Working in cemeteries as a necrophore and as a cemetery operator is a tiring job and as such should be included in the relative list. The Senator of the Lega Paolo Tosato asks this in a question to the Minister of Labor, Andrea Orlando. “The funeral operator or necroforo – explains the exponent of the Carroccio – is a worker called to take care of all the activities related to the performance of a funeral ceremony and in addition to these also the recovery of the body in a commercial and institutional availability regime on 24 hours “, while” the cemetery operator is a worker who takes care of subsequent activities, within the cemetery area of ​​his competence “. “Two professional activities – Tosato notes – subject to numerous risks, of a psychological, physical, chemical and biological nature”. In fact, “the funeral worker is in close contact with family members in the dramatic moment of mourning, and he is also responsible for the recovery and re-composition of the body due to traumatic death, hygienic care and thanatocosmetics of the body”. The cemetery operator, on the other hand, “carries out activities of exhumation, extumulation and reorganization of graves, constantly coming into contact with bones and decomposed bodies”. The efforts necessary for the manual handling of the coffins and the incorrect postures that are assumed in the operations must then be considered. of burial and handling of the coffins, in the placing of marbles and in the use of excavators “. Tosato then recalls “the use of products for cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting vehicles and aids and equipment that are used in the recovery of bodies and for the disinfection of vehicles, aids and tools used during exhumation activities. and extumulation as well as for disinfection and gardening within cemeteries “. Finally, “the biological risks deriving from the frequent presence of biological agents as a consequence of the manipulation of the body and contact with body fluids in the recovery and dressing of the body”, or a consequence of the “exhumation and extumulation activities” during the which occurs the contact “with biological liquids of the corpses having a bacterial load and potential carriers of Tbc and tetanus”. Without forgetting the further increase in risks during Covid due to the presence of “infected bodies”. Starting from these considerations and remembering that a technical commission has been set up “in charge of studying the severity of the occupations, also in relation to the age and subjective conditions of the workers, also deriving from environmental or direct exposure to pathogens”, Tosato he asked the Minister of Labor “which initiatives he is considering adopting in order to protect the professional figures of the funeral operator and cemetery operator, in particular in order to arrange for the inclusion of these duties among those considered tiring or burdensome”.