Six men died from inhaling toxic fumes while working at a purification plant in Sicily on Wednesday.
The men had been cleaning a tank filter at the plant in Mineo, a small town 35 km from Catania, when the accident happened.
The men's deaths drew immediate parallels with a similar incident that shocked the nation in March when five men died from inhaling hydrogen sulphide at an industrial vehicle maintenance company in Molfetta, Puglia.
Responding to the accident, Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi called an urgent meeting between union and business representatives to take place on Thursday to discuss the work safety issues.
''We need a national plan of intense collaboration between unions and institutions to spread safety regulations in all workplaces through priority investments in prevention, education and information,'' he said.
There have been five other serious work incidents involving multiple deaths in the last seven months.
These include the deaths of four people in an explosion at a fireworks factory near Orvieto in February and the deaths of seven in a fire at the ThyssenKrupp steelworks in Turin last December.
The last government pushed through work safety reforms earlier this year that included measures to combat illegal labour, protect immigrant workers and tighten control of the subcontracting chain, and the new government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to continue work to tackle work-related deaths.
But according to ANMIL, an association representing injured workers, the country needs far more work safety inspectors.
The association said that if every Italian business were to be checked by the number of staff currently available, each would receive a visit once every 23 years.
