Genoa – Three out of four inspections conducted in Ligurian companies revealed more or less serious irregularities. It is a dark picture that is outlined by annual supervisory report of the Labor Inspectorate relating to the checks conducted in 2023: out of 1,479 inspections, 1,115 irregular situations were found, in practice only in 364 cases did the inspectors raise any objections. An irregularity rate that stands at 75.4%, up compared to the previous year when the percentage was 72% and already showed an increase compared to 2021.
Liguria black jersey for safety compared to the rest of Italy, therefore: the regional average is higher than that of the North which stops at 66.3%, but also than that of the central regions which stands at 73.4% and the South which reaches 70 ,6%. The complaints from the Labor Inspectorate concern both the contracts and the administrative part and irregularities regarding health and safety. The inspectors visited companies in every sector: from agriculture to commerce, from construction to tourism, including manufacturing and logistics companies. The most critical sector was that of wholesale and retail trade with 107 irregular situations detected out of 134 inspections, an irregularity rate of 79.9%. Following, just over a percentage point behind, there are services, accommodation and catering activities: out of 286 checks, only in 61 cases did the companies prove to be compliant, with a violation rate of 78.7%. The world of manufacturing is also worrying, but it is nothing new where out of 85 inspections fines were imposed in 64 cases – 75.3% of the total – and that of construction where out of 672 checks 488 – 72.6% – highlighted irregular situations. Numbers that are even more worrying if read together with Inail data on accidents at work: according to the report for the two-month period January-February 2023 in Liguria there were 2,838 complaints while in the same period of this year there was a slight increase to 2,880, in practice 48 per day in the first two months of 2024. An increase that mainly concerns the construction sector, where they went from 137 to 174, and that linked to health and social assistance which sees an increase from 154 to 172 complaints. Fatal accidents are also on the rise: 4 in the first two months of the year, of which 2 in construction and the others in transport and warehousing, compared to three in the same period of the previous year. Data that arouses the indignation of the trade unions, even more so today as they are engaged in raising awareness on the occasion of World Safety at Work Day.
«The phenomenon of non-compliance with the law is increasingly rooted in our region – he explains worriedly Luca Maestripieri, general secretary of CISL Liguria – Not even the tragic increase in accidents, including fatal ones, seems capable of reversing this trend. It is clear, because the numbers say so, that the emergence of irregular work is closely linked to the quantity and quality of inspection activities: faced with the alarming growth of illegal situations, which translate into an increase in accidents and activities unknown to tax and social security, the strengthening of the structures dedicated to inspections should be automatic. The inspectors are doing a commendable job but there is a need for new hires to strengthen the staff, unfortunately this is not happening and we ask for the support of all the institutions so that this gap can be filled without further delays”.
CGIL and UIL are also calling for action as soon as possible, having taken to the streets side by side on 11 April to also ask for greater attention to workplace safety: «These are dramatic figures – reflects Igor Magni, secretary of the Genoa Chamber of Labor – It is no coincidence that, like CGIL, we have decided to dedicate May Day to the theme of health and safety at work with a day of events at the Luzzati Gardens. It seems that this Government has no interest in the topic, just look at the liberalization of cascade subcontracting where it is no mystery that more accidents occur due to less attention to safety and a greater presence of contractual gray areas. We need regulations that allow the control of construction sites with a digital code and above all more inspectors to increase the number of checks. In Liguria today companies save on security because they know they have little chance of being visited.”
«More inspectors but also heavier fines in case of irregularities – adds Emanuele Ronzoni, extraordinary commissioner of Uil Liguria – and a special prosecutor’s office because some deaths at work are actual murders. For all this, however, resources are needed and we ask the Government to identify them: Inail has two million euros in its budget to spend on prevention which are not used, it is time to start using them for information campaigns”. Data that also alarms the institutions: «You can’t be happy – comments Augusto Sartori, regional councilor for Labor – The gap on the past year is relatively small but a minus is never pleasing. However, I invite you to analyze the numbers also from another point of view: the high rate of irregularities may be the result of controls which in Liguria are stricter and more widespread than in the rest of Italy. This of course does not mean that we would still like to see many fewer infringements and that we will continue to vigorously combat the phenomenon.”
The accidents at work emergency
“In Liguria, in the first two months of 2024, an average of 48 workplace accident reports were recorded every 24 hours. An alarming figure which obviously does not take into account ‘invisible’ injuries, those linked to irregular work. These are impressive numbers, which require reflection on the need, which can no longer be postponed, to address what has become a true social emergency”, he says Luca Maestripieri, general secretary of CISL Liguria.
“No one can look the other way: the plague of accidents at work affects everyone, because it affects both workers and the social and healthcare system. And it does not only derive, as one might imagine, from the introduction of dangerous work tools, poor compliance with regulations or insufficient controls and inspections. If, in fact, the lack of a safety culture is the first indisputable risk factor, it should be remembered that accidents are increasingly a consequence of excessive workloads, the acceleration of working times and a culture of performance and productivity which increases risk margins and which, when it does not cause an accident, in any case, it causes a dangerous increase in the stress condition. And again the phenomenon of precarious employment that lurks in the false VAT numbersin internships, in internships, in false so-called spurious cooperatives, in the illegal use of para-subordinate contracts or, worse, fictitious VAT numbers, in the absolute absence of training for new hires: these are the conditions that increase safety risks in the workplace where action must be taken”, concludes Maestripieri
— © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
