Safety at work, new risks, and employer liability: prospects for post-Covid-19 regulation in Italy

Abstract

The search for increasingly sophisticated prescriptive regulatory solutions regarding employer liability in the OHS system has led to several legislative interventions, as well as reflections and debates in doctrine and jurisprudence. However, against the background of new and emerging OHS risk factors such as COVID-19, less attention has been given to employer liability and company resilience. While the principle of “maximum technologically possible safety” is not new, the question of how it is to remain unvaried in the face of new multifactorial, ubiquitous, and transversal risks, without excessively penalising companies, has been controversial for some time. Given new risks, such as COVID-19, this paper will analyse employer liability in OHS as it relates to interpretative problems and the definition of its containment perimeter.

Keywords

• ohs duty
• employer liability
• new and emerging risk factors
• covid-19
• italian ohs debate