Working in Italy - Occupational Risks

Safety in the Workplace

By Legislative Decree No 626/94, subsequently updated by Legislative Decree No 242 of 19 March 1996, Italy complied with the regulations laid down by the European Union on safety in the workplace.

The main innovations brought in are: 

• the creation of organisational positions directly involved in maintaining a satisfactory degree of safety in companies, such as the prevention and protection department official, the competent doctor and the workers' safety representative
• the obligation, for employers, to plan and put in place the allocation of the financial, human and organisational resources needed to apply the safety measures laid down by the law, to check on their implementation and to supervise compliance with the obligations prescribed by law, to draw up a document containing an assessment of the risks in the working environment, as well as to identify the preventive measures needed and to draw up a programme to implement these measures

To comply with these obligations, employers must ensure the collaboration of managers and employees entrusted with specific tasks, who will be responsible for implementing prevention and safety measures according to their professional roles and within the areas of their specific competence. 

Failure to observe the obligations indicated for employers, managers and persons in charge of implementing safety measures will result in fines, which will vary in relation to the degree of violation of the specific law. 

Provisions have also been made for the active participation of all those involved, including employees and/or their representatives, ranging from the definition of risk situations to the choice of solutions for their prevention and/or limitation. To ensure that workers are more aware of the need to comply with measures to prevent risk in the workplace, employers must organise training and awareness-raising programmes. 

A further innovation is the implementation of general protection measures, essentially focusing on an evaluation of risks and their elimination or reduction to minimum levels in accordance with the most recent technical knowledge by means of intervention preferably carried out at source. 

The above regulations also introduce: 

• compliance with ergonomic principles
• priority for the adoption of collective measures as opposed to individual ones
• the proper planning of working procedures in order to reduce workers' exposure to risk to a minimum
• regular maintenance and cleaning of surroundings, equipment, machinery and plant 
• the consultation and participation through safety representatives of the workers in issues relating to safety at work

At least once a year, employers must organise a meeting with the aim of verifying the state of implementation of the programmes introduced and the effectiveness of the safety and protection measures implemented for the benefit of employees.

Workers' Obligations and Rights

There is an express obligation for workers to ensure their own safety and health and, in accordance with specific instructions and the training they have received, to make correct use of safety devices and observe all safety regulations, both collective and individual, and any other means of protection, warning or control. This obligation also extends to the use of machinery, equipment, tools, substances and dangerous products to ensure that inappropriate use does not jeopardise the health and safety of other employees and persons who may be present in the workplace.

Workers have the right to refuse, except in exceptional cases and upon a reasoned request, 

• to resume work in situations where there is a serious and immediate danger
• to leave the workplace or a dangerous area, in the case of a serious and immediate danger which cannot be avoided, without being subject to any detrimental consequences for their conduct
• to take appropriate steps to avert the consequences of a serious and immediate danger, where it is impossible to contact a line manager or an appropriate person in the firm, without being suffering detrimental consequences for so doing, unless their conduct was seriously negligent
• to have individual medical check-ups if there is a link that can be documented between workplace risks and the request for such a check-up

Training and Information Provided for Workers

All workers have the right to receive appropriate information on prevention and protection. 

Under Article 21 of Legislative Decree No 626/94, this must be provided in a form that can be easily understood and must relate to the safety and health risks connected with a firm's activities in general, the protective and preventive measures and actions taken, the specific risks to which workers are exposed in relation to: the activity they carry out and the safety regulations and the company rules on this subject; the dangers connected with the use of dangerous substances and mixtures, the procedures and the names of the workers responsible for first-aid, fire and evacuation of workers, and the name of the person responsible for the prevention and protection department and the competent doctor (where one has been appointed). 

Apart from general information, workers must be provided with specific information, the content of which derives from an evaluation of the risks carried out for individual workplaces or similar workplaces. Failure to observe the obligations specified for workers will result in fines, which will vary in relation to the degree of violation of the specific law.

Industrial Accidents and Work-Related Illnesses

The Italian Constitution states that all citizens have the right to be provided with healthy conditions in the workplace and adequate means for the requirements of life in the case of an industrial accident or work-related illness. The law lays down an obligation to insure against any physical or economic damages which workers may suffer following accidents or illnesses caused by work. It is the responsibility of INAIL (Istituto Nazionale per l'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul lavoro e le Malattie Professionali) (Italian Workers' Compensation Authority) to insure all persons who perform paid work, using any machinery, equipment or industrial plants, or who work in organised environments, in whatever sector or category of industry, and who are employed by any natural or legal person, private company or public administration. I

NAIL also insures artisans, agricultural workers and parasubordinate (quasi-subordinate) workers. 

INAIL provides compensation for lost remuneration, for reduced working capacity or loss of working capacity with resulting disability of between 11 percent and 100 percent for workers who are the victim of an accident at work or who contract a work-related illness, in respect of events prior to 25 July 2000; for physical and/or mental impairment and its financial consequences, for events occurring after 25 July 2000; in addition, it grants an income to the survivors, in the event of death through an accident at work or a work-related illness. 

To obtain an indemnity or pension, workers must apply to the Patronati (local charitable institutions). Italian law entrusts to the latter the task of providing assistance to workers (at no cost) for the bureaucratic procedures required to obtain social security benefits from the national institutions which provide them.

Useful References

Italian Constitution; Legislative Decree No 626/94; Legislative Decree No 242 of 19 March 1996; Legislative Decree No 38/2000

Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2006
Reproduction is authorised.