too many accidents and occupational diseases (including cancer) – breaking latest news

Accidents at work but also professional diseases», that is, which arise due to work activity, such as those of the osteo-muscular system, the respiratory system, tumors, to mention only those most reported in our country. The latter are on the increase as shown by data from INAIL report– National institute for occupational accident insurance presented to Parliament in 2022 and those relating to the first quarter of this year.
Promoting and implementing the right of every worker to a healthy and safe working environment is the objective on which the United Nations agency turns the spotlight ILO – International Labor Organization on the occasion of the world day for health and safety in the workplace, which occurs on 28 April.

Essential level of assistance

In our country the activities and services aimed at protecting health and safety from risks related to working conditions are included in the essential levels of assistance, which must be guaranteed to every citizen, regardless of place of residence. In particular, as stipulated by the DPCM defining and updating the Lea (Chapter II, art. 2), in the context of «Collective prevention and public health» the National Health Service guarantees, among other things, «through its services, the t
protection of the health and safety of open and confined environments» e «surveillance, prevention and protection of health and safety in the workplace». With the update of the Lea in 2017 , in particular, particular importance is attached to the risk prevention for safety and health in the workplace, as well as for promotion of health improvement and security and the epidemiological surveillanceboth with respect to the prevention and control of risks, and with respect to damages (accidents and occupational diseases).

Occupational diseases on the rise

Per accident at work means the traumatic event, which occurred due to a violent cause in the workplace or even simply while working, which makes it impossible to carry out work for more than three days; there occupational diseaseinstead, it is

an event harmful to the person that occurs slowly, gradually and progressively, involuntarily, during work.
In our country there are still too many accidents at work and occupational diseases – even fatal ones – as emerges from INAIL report-National institute for occupational accident insurance, presented to Parliament in 2022: in 2021 around 564,000 accidents were reported (almost 350,000 recognized by Inail), 1,361 reports of fatal accidents, of which 685 were confirmed at work. In the first quarter of this year, based on the data released by Inail on the occasion of the world day, there was a slight drop in accident reports. Instead, the growing trend of occupational diseases is confirmed: in the first quarter of 2023 there were 18,164, 3,647 more than in the same period of 2022 (up 25%). The increase is 33.7 percent compared to 2021, when there had already been a constant increase throughout the year, as shown by the Inail report to Parliament: there had been around 55,000 complaints of related occupational diseases to work, a significant increase compared to 2020 (up 22.8 percent).
Between more common pathologies, also in the first quarter of 2023, there are osteo-muscular diseases, those of the nervous system, of the ear, diseases of the respiratory system (among others: silicosis and asbestosis), tumors.

Implement the relevant regulations

What to do to ensure more health and safety in the workplace? “First of all the relevant rules must be implemented correctlyfrom everybody» says Marco Caldiroli, national president of Democratic Medicine (Movement of doctors, researchers, prevention operators that deals with health protection primarily in the workplace, ndr), as well as prevention technician in the workplace at an ATS-Health Protection Agency in Milan.
Everyone is called to do their partfrom the employer to the workers themselves, from the workers’ safety manager (RLS) to the “competent doctor»
health figure in possession of the qualifications and requirements established by law to be able to carry out health surveillance and collaborate, to protect the state of health and safety of workers, in risk assessment in the workplace.
For example, explains Caldiroli, «regarding the notification of an occupational disease, the legislation establishes that if a competent doctor is aware or has the suspicion that a given disease has an occupational origin, he is required to report it. (to Asl/Ats, RLS, Inail). In reality, it doesn’t always happen or it’s delayed».

The role of the local health authorities

In general, the president of Medicina Democratica explains, «competent doctors are employees chosen and paid by the employer so there is a sort of constraint that can condition and, for this reason, we propose that they are not chosen by the employer but are entered in a public register: when the employer needs the competent doctor, he is randomly assigned. Furthermore, – continues Caldiroli – it goes implemented the health reform of 1978 which had deprived Inail (insurer) of the task of recognizing occupational diseases by entrusting it to the ASL, while the National Institute for Accident Insurance at Work should only continue to evaluate the type of benefits due to the worker who is recognized as having an occupational disease”.
Controls on compliance with the rules must also be strengthened rules on the protection of health and safety in the workplace.
“The number of local health inspectors and the methods of their intervention are established by each individual Region – explains the president of Medicina Democratica -. A common problem is the lack of personnel, but that’s not all: many local health inspectors have left or are retiring, so adequate training is needed for new hires» concludes Caldiroli.

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