Workplace accidents increase

Download article in original language : IT0002351FIT.DOC

Workplace accidents increased in Italy in 1999, according to figures released in January 2000, to the concern of the government and social partners. The situation differs substantially from sector to sector, with the building industry and agriculture particularly hard hit. The growing precariousness of employment seems to be having a negative effect on safety.

At the end of January 2000, the National Board for Insurance against Accidents in Industrial Work (Istituto Nazionale per l'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro, Inail) published figures on workplace accidents in Italy during the first 11 months of 1999. Overall, there were 967,000 accidents, a 2.2% increase on 1998 (according to il Sole 24 Ore and la Repubblica of 23 January 2000). Workplace deaths totalled 1,113, which was a slight fall from the 1998 figure (1,123). Both figures can be considered as underestimates, in that they do not include accidents and deaths among "irregular" workers, while not all accidents are reported to Inail.

As is to be expected, accidents occur mainly in industry, while they are less frequent in services. In manufacturing industry, however, both accidents (down 5.1% at 226,527) and deaths (down to 216 from 257) have fallen compared with 1998. Among the sectors with the largest numbers of both accidents and deaths are construction (83,637 accidents - up 2.6% - and 217 deaths) and agriculture (83,141 accidents - down 6.6% - and 134 deaths). These are the only two sectors in which deaths in 1999 increased in comparison with 1998, when they amounted to 210 and 118 respectively.

In comparative terms, according to a survey by Censis published in July 1999, Italy's workplace accident and death rate is higher than the average for the countries of the European Union. On the basis of Eurostat data for 1994, in fact, the number of accidents per 100,000 workers was 4,641 in Italy compared with the EU average of 4,539, while the number of fatal accidents per 100,000 workers in Italy was 5.3, compared with the EU average of 3.9. The countries with the lowest accident rates were Sweden (1,123 accidents and 2.1 fatal accidents per 100,000 workers) and the UK (1,915 and 1.7), while Spain (6,166 and 7.0) and Portugal (7,361 and 9.7) had the highest rates.

Reactions

The 1999 figures for workplace accidents in Italy aroused concern in the government and the social partners.

According to Gianni Billia, president of Inail, workplace risks can be reduced only by combining the flexibility needs of firms with safety. In many cases, the use of outsourcing is deleterious to workplace safety. In fact, the lack of rules on the matter encourages the growth of "underground" employment where there is less protection for workers. Moreover, work is outsourced to small firms which in some cases have laxer safety standards. Vocational training is also important: the finding that accidents are particularly common in agriculture and the building industry is also due to the fact that these sectors employ workers, such as immigrants, who are in a vulnerable position in the labour market.

These opinions are largely shared by the trade unions. According to Betty Leone of the Cgil confederation, accidents in the construction industry are closely connected with the subcontracting widespread in that sector, where priority is allegedly given to cutting costs rather than to safety. In the case of agriculture, besides the precarious nature of work, a further factor is limited technological innovation, which means that unsafe machinery may be used.

The Minister of Labour, Cesare Salvi, has declared that the regularisation of "clandestine" labour is essential if workplace safety in Italy is to be improved.

A number of new safety-related measures have been introduced by a legislative decree to reform Inail, approved by the government on 11 February 2000. This decree reduces the workplace accident insurance premium paid by employers by 5% Calculation of the premium will now take account of the number of accidents in the firm concerned and its compliance with safety rules. Another important innovation is the extension of compulsory insurance to senior managers, even if they have taken out private accident insurance, and to freelance work "coordinated" by an employer (with one-third of the cost of the insurance being met by the worker, and two-thirds by the employer). Finally, protection is extended to include biological agents.

Background

The issues of safety and the working environment have long been covered by both legislation and collective bargaining and Italy.

As regards legislation in this area, the first laws on compulsory insurance against workplace accidents were introduced as early as the end of the 19th century. Moreover, the Italian Constitution states that safety in the workplace must be guaranteed. The most important legislation enacted during recent years has been law no. 626 of 1994, which implemented eight EU Directives on health and safety issues and, amongst other measures, provided that workers' safety representatives (rappresentanti dei lavoratori per la sicurezza) must be elected in firms.

As far as collective bargaining on safety is concerned, the most significant development so far was the mainly company-level bargaining of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when trade union criticisms of Taylorist work organisation extended to working conditions, particularly as regards working environments with health and safety hazards. In the course of the 1990s, collective bargaining on safety issues concentrated mainly on the procedures for the election of the workers' safety representatives introduced by law 626/94 and on the definition of their tasks.

Commentary

The increasing concern shown by the government, employers, trade unions and workers over the issue of workplace safety has led to improvements. Of significance is the fact the highest number of workplace accidents was recorded in Italy at the end of the 1960s. Since then there has been a quite substantial fall in the accident rate. The figures for 1999 show a slight reversal of this trend, which confirms that increased workplace safety should continue to be a priority for the government and the social partners.

The accident rate varies quite markedly across sectors. While there are distinct signs of improvement in manufacturing industry, the situation in construction and agriculture is still very poor. Besides the hazardous nature of many of the activities in these sectors, accidents also seem to be due to limited technological innovation, a low level of vocational training, and the highly precarious nature of employment. The issue of workplace safety is therefore closely bound up with that of the quality of work in its various dimensions, so that both legislative and organisational aspects are important. (Marco Trentini, Ires Lombardia)