Accidents: INAIL reports a 5.5 per cent rise in claims among students in the first half of 2026, with 12 fatalities

A total of 52,301 accident reports involving pupils at all levels of education were submitted to INAIL by June 2026, an increase of 5.5 per cent compared with the 49,581 reported in the first half of 2025. Of the more than 52,000 accident reports, 550 concerned students taking part in ‘school-to-work’ training programmes, a decrease of 52 per cent compared with June 2025.

Accidents involving students account for 17 per cent of all claims recorded in June 2026. 42% involved female students (+5.4% between 2025 and 2026), and 58% involved male students (+5.5%). Three out of four accidents involved students under the age of 15, whilst a quarter involved those aged 15 and over. Twelve fatal cases were reported to INAIL by June 2026; there were seven in 2025. Lombardy is the region with the highest number of reports (24 per cent of the national total; +9.3 per cent compared with 2025), followed by Emilia-Romagna (13 per cent; +13.6), Veneto (12%; +2.6%) and Piedmont (10%; +3.6%). 94 per cent of the reports concern pupils at state schools, with the remaining 6 per cent relating to pupils at non-state and private schools.

97 per cent of reported cases occur during school activities, whilst 3 per cent occur whilst travelling to and from school. INAIL points out that the figures are provisional and subject to change, particularly in the case of accidents reported as fatal and those occurring during ‘school-to-work training’ programmes, pending the processing of claims for recognition.