KANBrief 4/24
INAIL is a key player in occupational safety and health in Italy. Through measures for awareness-raising, technical support, economic incentives and risk monitoring, it has created a prevention system that actively includes all stakeholders, from institutions and companies to employees.
When founded, INAIL, Italy’s National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work, was solely an insurer. Over the decades, however, this not-for-profit organization has significantly expanded its remit, and makes a major contribution to the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases. It offers information, training, and support and advice on occupational safety and health, particularly for medium-sized, small and microenterprises. These tasks are carried out by a range of specialists in areas including engineering, chemistry, biology and geology. With their expertise and skills, they substantially shape the institute’s prevention activity.
INAIL’s most effective instrument for supporting companies is arguably the ISI (italian) funding project, through which several hundred million euros are made available each year for projects to improve occupational safety and health. Through ISI, INAIL awards grants, for example for the purchase of safer machinery, the reduction of risks during particularly hazardous work, the disposal of materials containing asbestos, and the introduction of occupational safety and health management systems and organizational and management models (MOGs). INAIL reimburses 65% of the companies’ outlay. In 2023, a record sum of 508 million euros was paid out. A number of funding schemes for training and information programmes are also in place.
A further instrument is the waiving of a part of the insurance premium for companies that are particularly safe. The waiver ranges from 28% for the smallest companies to 5% percent for the largest. Through a bonus/penalty system, companies can receive further substantial premium reductions totalling up to 49%, depending on the incidence and severity of accidents in their operations.
One pillar of INAIL’s prevention work is the promotion of workplace safety through information campaigns, training courses and specialist publications. The training courses designed by INAIL are aimed at groups including managers, consultants and employee representatives, and are based on the concept of lifelong learning. The institute also works with schools, universities and other educational establishments to communicate knowledge on specific occupational risks and measures to reduce them.
In cooperation with employers’ associations and trade unions, INAIL offers technical and specialist support, consulting on operational processes, and suggestions for technical innovations in the field of occupational safety and health, particularly for medium-sized, small and microenterprises. The institute also supports companies by promoting and validating best practices and guidelines, and develops sector-specific guidelines for the introduction of occupational safety and health management systems and the associated organizational and management models.
Particular mention should be made of specialist tools and apps for assessing and reducing risks, such as VPS, an instrument by which companies can assess the quality of their own occupational safety and health measures, and CO&SI (italian), a program available free of charge on the INAIL website for calculating the cost of “unsafety”.
Numerous other INAIL activities contribute to the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases. Through scientific research, INAIL promotes the introduction of innovative safety technologies in companies: studies and research examine new risks in the world of work, for example in connection with new technologies, hazardous chemicals, emerging occupational diseases or changes to working environments.
Also worth mentioning is its supervision and IT management of SINP (italian), the Italian national information system for prevention. SINP unites numerous institutions and individuals involved in preventive and monitoring activity, and has the function of providing useful data for planning and implementing prevention measures and evaluating their efficacy.
INAIL is also active internationally: it serves as the Italian Focal Point for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) and maintains links to the International Social Security Association (ISSA). Over 130 INAIL experts are active on over 250 national and international standards committees, making the institute one of the most important members of UNI, the Italian national standards organization. INAIL is also a supporting member of the Italian accreditation body Accredia.
Antonio Terracina
Central coordinator for technical consulting on safety and health
INAIL