26/02/2008
Italy has the sorry record of 832,037 industrial accidents, not counting the 200,000 injuries to illegal workers. Severe disabilities were caused by 208,588 of these accidents; a total that includes 27,466 cases of very severe disability and 7,761 cases of total disability. Industrial accidents kill more than 1,000 people each year, a rate of 1 death every 7 hours. This is the story told by the statistics for 2007, which were presented to the Italian President at the beginning of February by ANMIL (Associazione nazionale mutilati e invalidi al lavoro - the national association for the disabled and injured at work).

Admittedly, ANMIL did present the "scoop" that suitable laws exist and that undeniable progress is being made in introducing a "safety culture". However, these laws need to be enforced and ANMIL estimates that the authorities only have sufficient personnel to inspect each company once every 23 years. Armed with the relevant statistics, ANMIL condemned the fact that employers seem to have effective impunity from prosecution, as criminal proceedings are rarely brought for a number of reasons, including the length of the judicial process. ANMIL is therefore calling upon the government to reinforce prevention and inspection initiatives, to increase the severity of penalties and to reorganise the administrative and judicial machinery.

In fact, all the above points are covered by Italian law No. 123 of 3rd August 2007, which includes measures to safeguard workplace health and safety. The Italian parliament has given the government the power to adopt the legislative decrees needed to introduce the required reforms; however, these decrees must be passed before May 2008, when this power expires. Following the fall of Romano Prodi’s government, there is a significant risk that the legislative decrees will not be passed in time because of the elections that will be held in April. The Italian President has called on the entire political community to show responsibility and to allow the legislative decrees to be adopted while parliament is dissolved, irrespective of the next governing party.

Source: Journal de l’Environnement