Social partners sign pact on health and safety for building sites in Milan

On 3 December 2008, an agreement was signed between the representatives of the Local Council of Milan and the social partners. The agreement sets out rules for participating in calls for public works tenders in Milan. It also establishes a list of criteria for carrying out private construction work in the city. The agreement is of particular importance due to the anticipated increase in the number of building sites leading up to Milan’s hosting of the Universal Exposition in 2015.

A Pact regarding health and safety and the regulation of employer-employee relationships (in Italian, 290Kb PDF) was signed on 3 December 2008 by the Local Council of Milan and the social partners. The employer side was represented by the Association of Private Construction and Complementary Enterprises (Associazione delle imprese edili e complementari, Assimpredil) of the northern provinces of Brianza, Lodi, Milan and Monza, affiliated to the National Association of Building Contractors (Associazione Nazionale Costruttori Edili, Ance). On the trade union side were: the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione generale italiana del lavoro, Cgil), the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Trade Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacali Lavoratori, Cisl), the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del lavoro, Uil), the Federation for Building, Allied Industry and Woodworkers (Federazione Edili, Affini e del legno, Feneal Uil), the Federation for Construction and Allied Industry Workers (Federazione lavoratori costruzioni e affini, Filca Cisl) and the Federation of Wood, Building and Allied Industry Workers (Federazione lavoratori del legno edili ed affini, Fillea Cgil).

Content of agreement

The signatories of the agreement intend ‘to combat undeclared work and consolidate a culture of health and safety’ in the city of Milan and surrounding areas. They propose to produce a document regarding health and safety in the workplace as soon as possible. This document will expose irregular work and mirror what has been established in the protocols that have already been signed by other local administrations.

Furthermore, the agreement regulates the rules to be followed in order to be able to participate in calls for bids for public works and establishes a list of criteria to be followed in carrying out private construction work.

Public works

Regarding contracts for public works of more than €1.5 million, the principal conditions set out in the agreement are:

• the issuing by the company of an identification badge for all workers present on a building site, which contains the personal details of the worker, company information and other data, including certification of participation in courses and training relevant to the worker’s duties in the workplace;

• the use of adequate technologies guaranteeing health and safety in the workplace;

• the subscription of workers to the Construction Workers’ Welfare Fund (Cassa Edile) starting from the first day of work;

• the financial stability of the company and its compliance with health and safety norms. These aspects are fundamental in order to be able to participate in a call for tender. In fact, these two parameters will carry a weight of 30% compared with other considerations during the overall evaluation for assigning a public contract.

The Cassa Edile is an independent body founded in every province of Italy according to the rules of the national collective agreement. Its main activity is to receive every month a part of the workers’ salary from companies, which goes towards the payment of holidays and the ‘13th month’ bonus salary paid at Christmas. All of the Casse Edili are guided and coordinated by the Joint National Committee for Construction Workers’ Welfare Funds (Commissione Nazionale Paritetica per le Casse Edili, CNCE).

Private construction work

Companies that carry out private construction work will also have to respect a number of criteria that envisage the following measures:

• the creation of a system of rules to impede the presence in the market of ‘improvisers that lack even the most elementary technical and administrative skills, and above all health and safety know-how and training of workers’. Compliance with these rules will be monitored by the local councils as a condition to obtain construction contracts;

• the integration of the Cassa Edile database with data confirming that the company has adequate technical and administrative skills, health and safety knowledge, and training for workers;

• the creation at the Cassa Edile of a specific list to which the local council administration will refer when granting authorisation for private construction work. The validity of the company requirements will be verified every three years. Furthermore, the company – in order to maintain its position – will have to demonstrate that in the preceding three-year period, it has carried out at least one project with a regular invoice and a certificate of regular practices. Moreover, it must not have been fined for using irregular work during the period;

• three-monthly controls – up until the declaration regarding the completion of the construction contract – by the Cassa Edile in respect of the regularity of the fiscal position of the company that is carrying out the construction work.

Reactions of social partners

All of the social partners involved consider the agreement to be important and fundamental for guaranteeing health and safety on building sites and helping to combat undeclared work in Milan.

The President of Assimpredil Ance, Claudio De Albertis, underlined the importance of the agreement and added that ‘the absence of rules to follow in order to obtain permission to operate in construction has favoured “entrepreneurs” that do not have the know-how and are improvisers’.

Cgil in Milan underlined the sense of responsibility of the regional administrations and the social partners ‘to guarantee workers’ adequate health and safety and the fight against undeclared work and the underground economy’. Likewise, Cisl in Milan stated that ‘the matter of health and safety in the construction industry is a question that requires a sense of responsibility from everybody’.

Commentary

The agreement deals with an important and sensitive matter in the construction sector and aims to regulate a market that is destined to expand considerably over the next five years, due to the hosting of the Universal Exposition (Expo) of 2015 in Milan. Protecting the market from an invasion of entrepreneurial ‘improvisers’ is important for a sector in which negligence and incompetence cause many serious accidents in the workplace.

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) has published numerous [case studies](/search/node/areas OR labourmarket OR tackling OR search.php?oldIndex) on tackling undeclared work in the European Union, including several cases in [Italy](/search/node/areas OR labourmarket OR tackling OR udwbycountry3?oldIndex).

Vilma Rinolfi, Cesos