Introduction Over the past few years, there has been a progressive increase in foreign labour force in agricultural sector in Italy, which has reached over 1 15 000 units (14.2% of total employment in agriculture), of which 36% coming from EU countries, while 64% from non-EU countries.

In case of migrant workers factors such as lack of knowledge of occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation, language knowledge difficulties, young age, lack of information and training and, consequently, reduced perception of work-related risks, could further increase the risk for health due to both specific risks of the activities carried out and the peculiar characteristics of the work organisation.

The present study aims at detecting the perception of OSH risk in agriculture in migrant workers as a contribution to the identification of training needs.

Methods With the support of cultural mediators, an ad hoc questionnaire was submitted to 402 migrant workers employed in agriculture in Lombardy Region.

Results The interviewees have different nationalities (60% Indian, 15% Moroccan, 15% Bengali), with mostly seasonal employment contracts (96%); the age most represented is 25–34 years (41%).

Over 56% generally evaluate their health ‘very good’. About 73% of respondents believe that there are no risks for OSH and 80% of them believe that are not personally exposed. Over 62% is very/completely agree that the lack of knowledge and awareness of workers’ dangers in the workplace contributes to an injury.

Conclusions Preliminary results of the study requires a secondary analysis in order to contribute to the implementation and optimisation of preventative tools in consideration of the peculiarities that characterise the agricultural sector.