ROME (ITALPRESS) – “Safety in the workplace is a priority that this government has placed at the center of its action, starting with discussions with employer and union organizations. Because the synergy between institutions, social partners, workers and businesses is the key to spreading the culture of prevention and thus reducing accidents at work and occupational diseases.” Thus Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a message sent on the occasion of Inail’s Annual Report 2023. “More prevention, more controls, harsher penalties for those who do not respect the rules. This is the strategy that the government is pursuing, and which has found concrete declination in the various measures adopted so far. We have ordered the hiring of 1,600 additional labor inspectors, with the aim of significantly increasing the number of inspections. As of October 1,” he recalls, “the ‘credit license’ for the construction sector is operational, an important innovation that not only monitors but also incentivizes the improvement of safety conditions on construction sites, rewarding virtuous companies and sanctioning those that are not. We encouraged companies to improve health and safety conditions for workers, including through the increased resources allocated for ISI calls, which increased from 333 million euros in 2022 to 500 million for 2024. We have also intervened on the level of sanctions, both administrative and criminal, reintroducing the crime of illegal labor administration, a case decriminalized in the past but found to be the one that has grown the most over time. “Workplace safety is not a cost, but a right of every worker. Ensuring this right is a permanent priority, which must see everyone in the front row,” stressed the premier, according to whom Inail “has always played a decisive role, and I believe that its skills and professionalism can be decisive in building, together, an effective and common national strategy to combat the phenomenon of accidents. Today’s event also allows us to start a reflection on the future of INAIL and the challenges it faces to strengthen its mission. I am referring to the contribution that the Institute can offer to update and make more effective the existing legislation,” he notes, “making it more adherent to the changes in the world of work; to the strengthening of prevention, rewarding companies that invest in health and safety; to the improvement of social and health services; to the enhancement of research, implementing synergy with European and international networks; and to the promotion of a culture of safety, which unfortunately is still not sufficiently widespread. With this in mind, I am convinced that it can be an effective tool to bring the topic of occupational safety to schools as well, to train citizens who are aware of the rights, duties and protections of workers,” Meloni concludes.
– Photo Agency Photogram –
(ITALPRESS).
