Health and safety at work and occupational medicine: the complete 2026 guide

1. What health and safety in a company covers

Health and safety in a company is the ongoing work of identifying hazards, assessing risks, deciding preventive and protective measures, keeping the evidence that they have been implemented, and checking that they hold over time. In Italy the reference is Legislative Decree 81/2008, which also covers the health surveillance entrusted to the occupational physician. It therefore involves people with defined roles, documents and deadlines.

The scope of Legislative Decree 81/2008

The decree is the consolidated act (testo unico) on the subject. The text in force on 29 October 2026 includes the amendments made by Decree-Law 159/2025 (in force since 31 October 2025, converted by Law 198/2025) and by Law 34/2026 (in force since 7 April 2026). Among the general protection measures of Article 15 are health checks (letter l) and, since Decree-Law 159/2025, the planning of measures against violent or harassing conduct (letter z-bis). Under the general umbrella there are chapters with rules of their own: PPE (Articles 74-79, section 9), display screen equipment (Articles 172-179, section 16), chemical agents (Title IX, from Article 221, section 11), construction sites (Articles 90-92, section 15).

Safety, health and occupational medicine

To assign responsibilities it helps to keep three levels separate. It is a working distinction, useful within a company. Safety concerns the hazards that produce an event: a fall, a cut, a collision. Health concerns the exposures that cause harm over time, such as postures or substances. Occupational medicine is the health surveillance that the occupational physician carries out in the cases provided for by Article 41 (section 5).

The second level weighs more than one might think. In 2025 INAIL recorded about 600 thousand work-accident reports (workers and students) and 98,312 occupational-disease reports, about 70 thousand of them musculoskeletal. These are reports, as a snapshot at 30 April 2026: provisional data. INAIL specifies that the growth in occupational diseases does not necessarily reflect a worsening of working conditions, but more cases coming to light.

The common thread: risk, measure, evidence, deadline, person responsible

Every obligation in the guide is read with the same chain. A risk calls for a measure, the measure leaves evidence, the evidence has a deadline and someone answers for it. If a link is missing, the obligation exists on paper and does not stand up to an inspection.

The “Evidence” column and the five-link chain are an EcosAgile working model, not a published standard. Deadlines and article references come from the text of the decree in force on 29 October 2026.

Where this guide ends

Topics that have a guide of their own are left out: whistleblowing and corporate compliance are covered in the guide Whistleblowing and corporate compliance. For attendance, access and site badges see the guide on time and attendance tracking; for the digitalisation of HR processes in general, the guide on the digitalisation of HR processes. The acronym EHS adds the environment to H&S: the environment is not covered here.

Management system and ISO 45001

A management system organises all of this into a cycle of planning, implementation, checking and improvement. The reference standard is ISO 45001:2018, with the 2024 amendment on climate; a revision is under way, with a draft put to the vote in summer 2026 and an outcome that, as at 29 October 2026, is not on record. It is a voluntary standard. Article 30(5) of Legislative Decree 81/2008 cites UNI EN ISO 45001:2023+A1:2024 among the references against which an organisational model is presumed compliant, alongside the UNI-INAIL guidelines of 28 September 2001; it no longer cites BS OHSAS 18001:2007. Further reading in section 18.

2. Roles and responsibilities in workplace safety

Workplace safety does not have a single person responsible. Legislative Decree 81/2008 distributes the tasks: the employer answers for the risk assessment and for appointing the RSPP, neither of which can be delegated; managers and supervisors implement and oversee; the RSPP and the ASPP (head and officers of the Prevention and Protection Service) assist the employer; the workers' safety representative (RLS) represents the workers; the occupational physician acts with professional independence; the workers cooperate.

The “To keep in order” column is an EcosAgile working model, not a published standard. Functions and articles come from the decree in force on 29 October 2026.

Employer and delegation

Article 2 defines the employer by looking at decision-making and spending powers, not at the title on the business card. Article 17 sets out what cannot be passed on to others: the assessment of all risks with the DVR and the appointment of the RSPP. For everything else delegation exists, but its conditions and form must be checked against the text with a professional.

The RSPP: a shortcut to avoid

“The safety manager is the RSPP” is a convenient and wrong phrase. Article 2 defines the RSPP as the head of the prevention and protection service, Article 33 lists the tasks (identifying risk factors, proposing measures and procedures, designing training programmes, taking part in consultations and in the periodic meeting) and the obligations of Article 17 remain with the employer. In some companies an in-house service is mandatory by law, for example in industrial companies with over 200 workers (Article 31(6)); in other cases the employer can take on the RSPP role personally, after informing the RLS (Article 34, Annex 2).

Supervisor and manager

The employer must identify the supervisor (Article 18(1)(b-bis)) and, in contracted work, name them to the client (Article 26(8-bis)). The supervisor oversees and can stop the work; their training is entirely face-to-face (Article 37(7-ter)); the Agreement of 17 April 2025 and the Ministry's FAQs allow synchronous videoconferencing only for the theory part and never e-learning; the format is agreed with the training body (section 8).

RLS and occupational physician

The RLS is established at territorial, company or production-site level (Articles 47-49), has the powers of Article 50 subject to collective bargaining and must be consulted before the risk assessment. The occupational physician cooperates with the employer, but is independent as regards health data: to the employer they communicate the judgment and conditions, never the diagnosis (section 7). When an employment relationship ends, the employer informs the physician (Article 18(1)(g-bis)): a step to include in the exit process.

Keeping roles up to date

Appointments and designations get lost in reorganisations. Good practice: a single list with name, role, date of appointment, production unit and training expiry date, re-read at every change to the organisation chart (company organisation chart guide). The place where the roles meet is the periodic meeting under Article 35, annual in units with more than 15 workers; up to 15, the RLS can request it.

3. Risk assessment and the DVR

Risk assessment is the global, documented evaluation of all the risks to health and safety present in the company, carried out to decide which prevention and protection measures are needed and to build an improvement programme over time. The DVR, the Risk Assessment Document, is the document that puts it in writing. Assessment and DVR are non-delegable obligations of the employer.

Hazard and risk

The decree distinguishes the two terms. A hazard is the intrinsic property or quality of a factor with the potential to cause harm (Article 2(1)(r)). Risk is the probability of reaching the potential level of harm under the conditions of use or exposure (letter s). A wet floor is a hazard; the risk depends on how many people walk on it, in what shoes, and in how much of a hurry.

How risk is measured is chosen by the employer: Article 28(2)(a) leaves the drafting criteria to them, with simplicity, brevity and comprehensibility. The product of probability × harm, in a matrix of classes, is a very widespread teaching model. The scales are ordinal and the product is not a physical measure: different matrices give different classes, so a level 9 does not mean the same thing in every company.

Example with invented data: in a warehouse, the high shelf with heavy packages is the hazard. On a scale from 1 to 4 chosen for the example, the probability that material falls on an operator in that little-used aisle is 2 and the harm is 3: level 6. If a second shift doubles the number of passages, the probability rises to 3 and the level to 9. What to do at 6 and what at 9 is decided by the thresholds the company has written down.

The path, from identification to review

The six-step sequence and the “Evidence” column are an EcosAgile working model, not a published standard. The contents of Article 28(2) are the minimum ones described in the decree in force on 29 October 2026.

What the DVR contains

According to Article 28(2), it contains the assessment report with the criteria adopted, the prevention and protection measures and the PPE, the improvement programme, the procedures with the roles that implement them, the names of the RSPP, RLS and occupational physician, and the jobs that expose workers to specific risks. The document is kept at the production unit (Article 29(4)).

Who signs

Article 28(2) requires the document, also in electronic format (Article 53), to bear a certified date or be signed. Which signatures are needed and for what purpose can be read in the text of the article and checked with a professional: this page does not establish it.

When to update the DVR

Article 29(3) requires the DVR to be revised within 30 days of significant changes, of developments in technology, of significant work accidents or of the results of health surveillance. The text of the rule does not define “significant”. It is the company that decides, and it makes sense to write the criterion down: for example new equipment, a new process, a change of premises, a work accident with a long prognosis, new conditions set by the occupational physician. The DVR then feeds into the periodic meeting under Article 35 (section 2). Work accidents and cause analysis are covered in section 10.

In EcosAgile: in the Health & Safety module you create an assessment plan per year, company and site, indicating the RSPP, the RSL (as shown on screen) and the physician. Risks are entered in four views (by job, work area, process, data processing); for each line you enter probability and harm, and the system calculates the level and colours it in four bands. A linked improvement plan collects the preventive measures. The DVR file is attached in the archive of workplace safety documents, with company, contact person and status. The DVR remains the document drawn up and signed by the company under Article 28: the system manages the plan and the file archive.

4. Job-task register and worker, risk, obligation matrix

The safety job-task register (mansionario) describes what each job does and which risks it exposes the worker to. The worker, risk, obligation matrix starts from there and links the job to training, PPE, health surveillance and deadlines. It serves to answer a concrete question in a few seconds: can this person carry out this activity with everything in order? Without a matrix, every check lives in a different file and the gaps are discovered during an inspection.

From the DVR to the matrix row

The starting point is the DVR, which among its contents lists the jobs exposed to specific risks. From there the matrix is built by rule: the job, together with the risks assessed, produces the obligations, and the person receives them when the job is assigned, if the tool in use allows it. Filling in a row by hand for each worker works with ten people. With two hundred, nobody keeps it aligned.

When the law makes an obligation conditional on the assessment, the cell says “according to the assessment” and refers to the article. This is the case for PPE, specific training and health surveillance. A medical check-up “for everyone” is not a general rule: surveillance depends on the risks and on the protocol chosen by the occupational physician.

An example with three jobs

Example with invented data: three jobs in an imaginary company. The risks shown are examples, not the list from any real DVR.

The matrix is an EcosAgile working model, not a published standard. The columns are a proposal; the obligations cited in the cells come from the rules indicated.

The events that reopen the row

• Change of job: training (Article 37(4)) and, if the person is under surveillance, a check-up (Article 41(2)(d)).
• New equipment, and from 7 April 2026 periods of wage supplementation (cassa integrazione): training opportunities (Article 37(4)).
• Absence for health reasons of more than 60 continuous days: check-up before return to work, if the occupational physician considers it necessary (Article 41(2)(e-ter)).
• Significant changes or significant work accidents: the DVR must be revised within 30 days (Article 29(3)) and the matrix with it.

HR data and health data in the same row

The matrix sits between HR and safety, so it is worth deciding in advance what does not go into it. The surveillance cell shows “yes”, “no” or “according to the assessment”, the deadline and the fitness judgment. It does not show the clinical reason for a condition. The reason why is in section 7. To tell the safety job from the role in the organisation chart, see the guide on company organisation charts and workforce planning.

In EcosAgile: the Job-task Register has three tabs: general information, health and safety at work, and occupational medicine. For each role you define the recommended PPE, the expected training (indicating whether it is required by law), the risks and the work areas. The entry is distinct from the organisational role with its job description, and on the person's record the field “Safety job task” proposes the job tasks defined for their role.

5. Occupational medicine and health surveillance

Health surveillance is the set of medical acts that protect the health and safety of workers in relation to the working environment, the risk factors and the way work is carried out (Article 2(1)(m), Legislative Decree 81/2008). It does not apply to everyone: it applies in the cases provided for by the legislation or at the worker's request, if considered related to the risks. When it exists, the employer appoints the occupational physician, who sets it up and carries it out.

When it is really needed

The DVR says which risks exist. Surveillance follows only where a rule provides for it for that risk. Examples: display screen equipment for those exceeding 20 hours a week (Article 176), manual handling of loads (Article 168(2)(d)), noise above the upper action values (Article 196), hazardous chemical agents (Article 229), carcinogens (Article 243).

Outside these cases, offering the check-up “to everyone” is a choice of the company, not an obligation. It has a cost, because check-ups are paid for by the employer (Article 41(4)), and it brings additional health data to be processed.

What the occupational physician does

The tasks are mainly set out in Article 25(1).

• Defines the health protocols and cooperates in the risk assessment. The protocol is chosen by the physician, not by HR and not by the employer.
• Keeps the health and risk record, held under the physician's responsibility and covered by professional secrecy.
• Brings only anonymous, collective results to the periodic meeting (Article 35(2), for units with more than 15 workers).
• Inspects the workplaces at least once a year.
• Sends the aggregated health data every year, within the first quarter of the following year (Article 40).

On the health data from surveillance the physician acts as an independent data controller, as indicated by the Garante in its decision of 16 January 2025. The fitness judgment and the conditions or limitations pass to the employer, not the diagnosis. The framework is in section 7.

The path in five steps

1. The DVR identifies the risk and the exposed job.
2. The occupational physician defines the health protocol.
3. The employer sends the worker for the check-up.
4. The physician issues the fitness judgment for the job (section 6).
5. The employer applies the conditions and deadlines, and the anonymous collective results go back to the periodic meeting.

Where HR comes in, and where it stops

The organisational acts fall to the employer and HR: sending workers for check-ups (Article 18(1)(g)), informing the physician when the relationship ends (letter g-bis), ensuring that no one is assigned to a job without a fitness judgment (letter bb) and guaranteeing the information flows to the prevention service and the physician (Article 18(2)).

It is not for HR to collect information on health. The Garante, in its decision of 10 July 2025, sanctioned “return-to-work interviews” with a questionnaire after absences for illness or work accident. Health data stay within health surveillance: an HR interview with questions about health breaches the GDPR and the Italian Privacy Code (Codice privacy).

The section describes process and roles. For an individual case, the occupational physician is the one to ask.

In EcosAgile: the health protocol is defined by role, in the “Occupational medicine” tab, with the types of check-up and renewal. The check-up calendar can be consulted by occupational physician. The “Occupational medicine archive” collects company documents, such as the appointment of the occupational physician, inspections, health surveillance and minutes.

6. Medical check-ups, deadlines and the fitness judgment

Article 41 of Legislative Decree 81/2008 provides for the preventive check-up, the periodic one, the one requested by the worker, the one on change of job, the one at the end of the relationship in the cases provided for and, before returning after an absence for health reasons of more than 60 days, the one that the occupational physician considers necessary. At the end the physician issues a fitness judgment for the specific job. The employer receives the judgment and any conditions, not the diagnosis.

The types of check-up

Letter e-bis was repealed by Law no. 203 of 13 December 2024. Check-ups are paid for by the employer (paragraph 4), take place during working hours except the pre-employment one (Article 20(2)(i)), and are prohibited for ascertaining pregnancy (paragraph 3).

The fitness judgments

The occupational physician chooses among four outcomes (Article 41(6)): fit, partially fit with conditions or limitations (temporary or permanent), temporarily unfit, permanently unfit. The judgment is written and a copy is given to the worker and the employer (paragraph 6-bis). For temporary unfitness, the limits of validity must be stated (paragraph 7).

Acts of the employer follow from the judgment. The employer applies the conditions and, if the person is unfit for the job, assigns them where possible to equivalent or lower jobs, with the pay and conditions of the job they came from (Article 42(1)). The employer also ensures that no worker subject to surveillance is assigned to the job without a judgment (Article 18(1)(bb)). Against the judgment, an appeal to the supervisory body, that is the local health authority (ASL), is provided for within 30 days (paragraph 9); when the term starts should be checked against the text, and the decision to appeal deserves professional advice.

Deadlines and who monitors them

The date of the next periodic check-up follows from the frequency set by the physician, not by HR. It is for HR and the RSPP to see the deadline in time and make the booking. As good practice, a quarterly review of the schedule of check-ups, courses and PPE avoids surprises; it is an organisational choice, not an obligation.

In shared lists, such as deadline schedules or notices, the prudent thing is to show unauthorised people only whether the person is in order or when the check-up expires, never the outcome, the type of condition or the reason; fitness with conditions stays with those entitled to it. The Garante, in its decision of 29 April 2026, sanctioned the posting on a notice board of a service order with the measures prescribed by the physician for a worker, from which the nature of the infirmity could be deduced. Details in section 7.

In EcosAgile: each check-up has a status (requested, planned, completed, suspended, deleted), the physician, the healthcare facility, the outcome, the condition and the renewal date. The types of check-up are a predefined list; for bulk management a group of check-ups is set to “Completed” and then the outcomes are recorded, and the historical backlog is loaded from an Excel file. Fitness judgments and records are attached as documents in the health archives, separate from the general ones.

In EcosAgile: the check-up schedule and the calendar by occupational physician can be viewed on screen. Among the 14 standard email notifications, three concern periodic check-ups: renewals due in the next quarter (3 months), check-ups to be done in the month (1 month) and a notice to the person (20 days). Text and recipients can be edited, and the emails go only to those with an active user account.

7. Privacy and health data

The health data from surveillance are processed by the occupational physician, who keeps the record under their own responsibility and with professional secrecy. The employer is entitled to the fitness judgment and to the conditions or limitations necessary to assign the person to the job, not the diagnosis or the medical history. Only collective and anonymous results reach the periodic meeting. HR staff are not among the recipients of the clinical reasons.

The section describes rules and decisions verified on 29 October 2026. It is not legal or medical advice: for a concrete case, the occupational physician and the Data Protection Officer (DPO) are needed. The table is an EcosAgile reading of the sources cited.

Who receives what

What the Garante has sanctioned

Three decisions of the Garante draw the line in concrete terms.

• On 16 January 2025 an occupational physician was sanctioned for having sent to the employer, the personnel function and the RSPP a summary of a worker's medical history: Articles 6 and 9(2) GDPR were breached.
• On 10 July 2025 it was the turn of a company, for return-to-work interviews with a questionnaire after absences for illness, work accident or hospitalisation. Breached, among others, were Articles 5, 6, 9, 13 and 88 GDPR and Article 113 of the Privacy Code; the Garante banned further processing and ordered the forms to be deleted.
• On 29 April 2026 a public administration posted on a notice board a service order with the measures prescribed by the occupational physician for a worker, from which the nature of the infirmity could be deduced: Articles 5, 6 and 9 GDPR and Article 2-ter of the Code were breached.

Returning after a long absence

The route is the check-up before returning after an absence for health reasons of more than 60 continuous days, which Article 41(2)(e-ter) provides for if the occupational physician considers it necessary. The physician carries it out and the judgment comes back to the employer. An HR interview with questions about health does not replace it and, as seen, has already been sanctioned. Details of the check-ups are in section 6.

Lists, notifications and dashboards

EcosAgile interpretation: the risk is not only in the record. A deadline, the type of condition or a name on a list visible to many people can reveal a health condition, as in the notice board case. For each list and each automatic message it is worth deciding what it contains and who receives it. Whether a data protection impact assessment (Article 35 GDPR) is needed is decided by the controller with the DPO; the general framework of the GDPR is covered in a dedicated EcosAgile guide.

In EcosAgile: in the Health & Safety module, fitness judgments and records are managed as attached documents, in health archives separate from the general occupational medicine ones: the separation concerns the document archive, not the permissions. There are three access profiles: EHS manager, set-up, and employee in Employee Self Service, who sees their own check-ups, PPE, actions and reports. Who receives which profile is a choice of the company.

8. Training, information and practical instruction

People who work must be trained on hiring, on change of job, when new equipment arrives and, from 7 April 2026, during periods of wage supplementation (cassa integrazione) (Article 37(4), Legislative Decree 81/2008). Minimum durations by role are in the State-Regions Agreement of 17 April 2025 (Rep. 59/CSR): for example 12 hours for the supervisor and 16 for the employer. The supervisor's course is not done by e-learning.

Three different things

The decree defines them separately (Article 2(1), letters aa, bb, cc). Information to workers is covered by Article 36; training, general and specific, by Article 37(1)-(3). Practical instruction, under Article 37(5), is carried out by an experienced person at the workplace, must be recorded and may use simulation technologies (a novelty of Law 34/2026, in force from 7 April 2026).

When people are trained

• On hiring. In catering and accommodation, training is completed within 30 days (Decree-Law 159/2025 Article 1-bis); for other sectors the FAQs of the Ministry of Labour (no. 9) rule out a 60-day derogation.
• On transfer or change of job, and on the introduction of new equipment.
• During periods of wage supplementation, from 7 April 2026.

Minimum durations by role

EcosAgile summary table of the minimum durations in the Agreement of 17 April 2025 (Rep. 59/CSR), as at 29 October 2026. The text of the Agreement and the Ministry's FAQs prevail; for each individual course, confirmation is requested from the training body and the RSPP.

The Agreement repealed those of 2011, 2012 and 2016. It has been in force since May 2025 (24 May 2025 for the Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale) no. 119; 19 May 2025 is the publication date of the Ministry's FAQs). The transitional regime for courses under the old regime expired in May 2026. For the employer, the new course must be completed within 24 months, that is by May 2027. The RLS follows Article 37(11): 32 initial hours, with a refresher of at least 4 hours a year between 15 and 50 workers and 8 above 50.

In person, videoconference, e-learning

Synchronous videoconferencing (VCS) counts the same as in-person attendance only for the theory (FAQ no. 33). For the supervisor, Article 37(7-ter) speaks of training entirely in person, while the Agreement allows VCS within the limit just stated: in any case e-learning is excluded (FAQ no. 38) and the format is agreed with the training body. In distance courses a tutor other than the teacher is needed (FAQ no. 49). Fire-fighting and first-aid teams follow other rules, in section 13.

What to keep

• Course minutes and certificate meeting the minimum requirements of the Agreement
• Attendance of at least 90% and trainers meeting the requirements of the Ministerial Decree of 6 March 2013
• Course file, for at least 10 years
• Maximum 30 participants (excluding e-learning courses) and one trainer for every 6 learners in practical sessions
• Practical instruction register (Article 37(5))

In EcosAgile: in the Health & Safety module, courses carry the “mandatory by law” flag and the Job-task Register indicates the expected training by role, with the wording “by law”. Sessions collect enrolments, which have statuses such as requested, enrolled and completed. Individual training compares what is expected with what has been achieved; the course deadline schedule flags renewals, with notification to the EHS manager at 1 and 3 months before expiry.

In-depth with the expert: in the EcosAgile webinar recorded in 2024, the segment at minute 10:29 covers training linked to the appointments under Legislative Decree 81/2008 and renewal schedules (recorded before the 2025 Agreement, so not a source for durations). Corporate compliance: how to manage GDPR, whistleblowing, workplace safety and risks (in Italian).

9. Personal protective equipment (PPE)

PPE comes into play when the risk cannot be avoided by technical measures, collective protection or a different work organisation (Article 75, Legislative Decree 81/2008). The employer chooses it on the basis of the risk assessment, after consulting the RSPP and the occupational physician, hands it over with the instructions and takes care of maintenance and replacement (Article 18(1)(d); Article 77). Handing it over is not enough: management lasts as long as the device is in use.

The life cycle, in six stages

The “Evidence to keep” column is an EcosAgile working model, not a legal obligation: the rule requires some registers (for example the practical instruction register), not the form of the proof. Articles verified on the text in force on 29 October 2026.

Who does what

Selection and supply are for the employer, who consults the RSPP and the occupational physician. The worker uses the PPE appropriately and takes care of it (Article 20(2)(d); Article 78). How often to replace it has no answer valid for everyone: it depends on the manufacturer and on the technical standard of the product. PPE follows from the risks in the DVR and, by role, from the job-task register; practical training ties in with training.

Example with invented data: a maintenance worker is assigned ear defenders. Hearing is among the cases where practical training is indispensable (Article 77(5)): besides the issue with the signed receipt, the form records the date of the practical training and the expiry date indicated by the manufacturer. A signature is not required as such by the articles verified: it is a useful proof, chosen by the company.

Before issuing

• The risk the PPE covers is written in the assessment
• Manufacturer's instructions available in the company
• Worker informed of the risks the PPE protects against
• Practical training recorded, if category III or hearing
• Issue date and receipt filed
• Inspection and expiry in the calendar

In EcosAgile: in the Health & Safety module, the PPE master data holds serial code, supplier, months of warranty, maintenance and documents. The assignment records the person and the issue date; the signature date is filled in only after the issue form has been signed. Bulk unassignment and usage analysis exist, with available and assigned devices; in the Job-task Register the recommended PPE are indicated by role.

10. Work accidents, incidents, near misses and non-conformities

A work accident is the event that has already caused harm to a person; an incident is the event that can cause it or does cause it; a near miss is an incident without physical harm but with the potential to have caused it. A non-conformity, in the sense in which INAIL uses it and in which we use it in this section, is a hazardous situation that has not generated any incident. Obligations, records and analysis change from one case to another.

Double meaning: in ISO 45001 (§3.34) “non-conformity” is the non-fulfilment of a requirement; in the INAIL model it is a hazardous situation. Here the second applies.

Work accident: four definitions, four figures

Comparing your own work accidents with those from another source often means comparing different things: the numerator must be declared before any calculation.

For the statistical obligation, paragraph 1-bis sets the start at twelve months after the adoption of a decree: as at 29 October 2026 there is no record that it has been adopted. Order of magnitude: about 600 thousand work-accident reports to INAIL for 2025, provisional data at 30 April 2026.

Near miss: what is mandatory, and since when

Dates that do not hold up circulate on this point. Article 15 of Decree-Law 159/2025 provides for guidelines from the Ministry, in agreement with INAIL, for companies with more than fifteen employees, on the identification, tracking and analysis of near misses, and a decree on aggregated data. The six-month deadline (around 30 April 2026) has passed; as at 29 October 2026 there is no record of the adoption of either the guidelines or the decree. The INAIL CONDIVIDO model (November 2025 edition) is voluntary: Methodology for the analysis of near misses and hazardous situations.

Already in force, for all companies, is the worker's obligation to report any dangerous condition (Article 20(2)(e)).

From event to action

The “Who” and “Evidence” columns and the timings not set by the rule are an EcosAgile working model, not a published standard. The CONDIVIDO document sets no analysis times or closing indicators.

Finding the cause: 5 whys and the causal tree

CONDIVIDO classifies: it maps the incident onto standard lists of causes and organisational weak points, useful for aggregating cases. The investigation methods, 5 whys and causal tree, do not appear to be described. For cases with serious potential: classify for the data, investigate to understand.

The 5 whys consist of asking “why?” about five times, using each answer as the basis for the next. Born at Toyota, they tend to stop at symptoms, depend on who investigates and lead to a single cause. The causal tree reconstructs facts and conditions backwards, with several branches, and the ILO guide distinguishes immediate, underlying and root causes, starting from a chronology of the facts. Facts must be verified, not presumed. Sources: Wikipedia, entry “Five whys”, CC BY-SA 4.0, accessed on 29 October 2026 (paraphrase); ILO, Investigation of occupational accidents and diseases, 2015.

Example with invented data: a forklift truck grazes a warehouse worker in an aisle. Why? The driver did not see them. Why? The pedestrian crossing cuts across the aisle at a blind spot. Why? After the shelving was moved, the pedestrian route stayed the old one. Why? No procedure links changes to the layout of the spaces to the review of the risks. The root cause lies in the change process, and the action concerns that, not a reprimand to the warehouse worker.

Zero reports in a quarter, at a site, are more a sign of under-reporting than of safety, and rewarding “zero accidents” discourages those who report: indices and formulas in the KPI section. If the investigation changes the risk picture, the DVR is reviewed (DVR section).

In EcosAgile: the accident record collects person, date, place, reason, report and dates of absence, with a classification by context and an investigation form; the near miss is a flag on the same record. A dashboard analyses accidents and absences. The non-conformity report has a priority and actions; the person who has to carry out the action receives a notification, and if the action does not take place within 10 days of the expected date, a reminder is sent.

11. Chemical risk and hazardous substances

Chemical risk is governed by Title IX of Legislative Decree 81/2008, Chapter I (Articles 221-232), within the risk assessment and the DVR. When the assessment requires it, health surveillance is added: Article 229 provides for it for workers exposed to chemical agents hazardous to health with certain classifications under Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. It does not apply if the assessment shows a low risk to safety and an irrelevant one to health (Article 224(2)). For carcinogens there is also an exposure register, in Article 243. Legislative Decree 213/2025, which transposes Directive (EU) 2023/2668 on asbestos, amended Article 244 and Articles 246 to 262, entering into force on 24 January 2026: before applying them, the text in force is needed.

Title IX is broad and partly recent. This section indicates its logic and its links with the rest of the page; for limit values, thresholds and detailed obligations it refers to the text in force, to be checked with the RSPP and the occupational physician. It is not legal advice.

From substance to evidence

The order of the questions is that of the whole page: risk, measure, evidence, deadline, responsibility, check. For substances it translates into six steps. The first, the list of substances used by department, is a working proposal: it serves to answer a single question, who is exposed to what, and not to describe every product in the warehouse. It must be dated and entrusted to a person.

The table is an EcosAgile working model, not a published standard. The rows with an article describe an obligation; the wording of the questions is ours.

Links with the rest of the guide

The choice and management of protective equipment follow the cycle described in the PPE section. Training and its durations are in the training section, the types of check-up and fitness judgments in the check-ups section. For carcinogens, health and risk records have a particular route: when the employment relationship ends, the record and the register entries must be sent to INAIL through the occupational physician (Article 243(4)); INAIL keeps them for up to forty years after the end of the activity that exposes workers to carcinogens or mutagens, and for at least five years for substances toxic to reproduction (Article 243(6)). How to handle these data inside the company is covered in the health privacy section.

The safety data sheet enters the assessment: Article 223(1)(b) requires the information that the supplier provides with the sheet prepared under Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH) to be considered, and Article 227(1)(d) provides that workers or their representatives have access to every sheet made available by the supplier. What a hazardous chemical agent is, is stated by the criteria of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, known as CLP (Article 222). The content of the sheets and labelling are regulated by REACH and CLP, which are not described here: whoever sets up a procedure on the sheets should start from the text in force and from their own RSPP.

12. Machinery, plant and work equipment

For work equipment, Legislative Decree 81/2008 asks three things of the company: that only those who have been assigned to it and have received adequate information, training and practical instruction use it; that it be repaired and maintained by specifically qualified workers; and that initial, periodic and extraordinary checks be carried out by a competent person, keeping the results in writing for at least the last three years. So says Article 71, paragraphs 7 and 8-11.

The section gives the essentials of Article 71 and its links with training. The frequencies of periodic inspections are in Annex VII, to be read in the text in force with the RSPP and, if needed, a professional. It is not legal advice.

One form per piece of equipment, with four answers

The working proposal is simple: for each piece of equipment, a form that answers who may use it, who checks it, when the next check is due and where the written result is. The rest, including the links with the DVR, follows from these four answers. When new equipment is introduced, training is also reopened (Article 37(4)), and technical development is one of the reasons for revising the DVR within 30 days (Article 29(3)). Law 34/2026, Article 12, added to Annex VII mobile elevating work platforms and off-road work platforms for orchard operations, with a three-year inspection. Circular no. 11 of 26 October 2026 of the Ministry of Labour clarifies that the new item does not concern elevating work platforms in general or fruit-picking carts, which keep the inspections already provided for.

The “Who”, “When” and “Evidence” columns, where there is no article, are an EcosAgile working model, not a published standard.

Operator authorisations: training is not enough to say “is authorised”

The equipment requiring a specific authorisation (Article 73(5)) is listed in Annex II of the State-Regions Agreement of 17 April 2025, which repealed the agreement of 22 February 2012 on the same equipment. The Agreement provides for authorisation courses of their own, deliverable only in physical presence, and a five-yearly refresher of at least 4 hours of practical part. It also specifies that the authorisation does not exhaust the training, information and practical instruction obligations of Title III. Whoever manages the deadlines must therefore distinguish general training from authorisation for the equipment: they are different deadlines on the same person. Durations and formats for all roles are in the training section.

Other points that change or are forgotten

On electrical work, Article 82 prohibits live working, except for safety voltages or the conditions of the article itself: procedures compliant with technical standards and workers recognised as suitable by the employer. For teleworking, Article 3(10) requires the employer's equipment to comply with Title III. On permanent fixed vertical ladders, Decree-Law 159/2025, Article 5, rewrote Article 113(2) and Article 115: above 5 metres in height and 75 degrees of inclination, an individual fall-protection system or a safety cage is required, based on the risk assessment. For ladders installed by 31 October 2025, the new provision takes effect from 1 February 2026 (Article 5(1-bis)).

In the INAIL CONDIVIDO model, the organisational weak points that can be linked to an event include maintenance and periodic inspections. How a case is analysed is in the section on work accidents and near misses; how to measure the punctuality of checks, in the KPI section.

13. Emergencies, fire prevention and first aid

In an emergency people do what they have already rehearsed, not what is written in a document. For this reason Legislative Decree 81/2008 devotes Articles 43-46 to emergencies (organisation of the emergency, rights of the worker in serious danger, first aid, fire prevention) and refers to Article 37(9) for the training of the teams. In practice what is needed is designated and trained appointees, checked equipment and periodic drills that leave a trace.

The number of appointees, the length of courses and the contents of the safety equipment depend on specific decrees that are not reported here: they must be checked with the RSPP.

Who does what

Article 43 refers to Article 18(1)(t), among the obligations of the employer and managers. First aid (Article 45) is organised after consulting the occupational physician. A worker who moves away from a serious danger cannot suffer prejudice for having done so (Article 44). If the employer directly carries out the first-aid and fire-fighting tasks, Article 34(2-bis) provides for them the courses referred to in Articles 45 and 46.

The training of emergency teams is in Article 37(9). Among the roles of the State-Regions Agreement of 17 April 2025 (Rep. 59/CSR), emergency teams do not appear (EcosAgile reading): durations and contents must be sought in the specific rules, not in the durations in the training section.

Drills, equipment and evidence

For drills the Ministry of the Interior Decree of 2 September 2021 (Official Gazette no. 237 of 4 October 2021), Annex I point 1.3, applies: drills at least annually, with documented evidence, where the obligation of an emergency plan applies; an additional drill after serious deficiencies, with a significant increase in workers or presences, or with changes to evacuation routes. Which activities are subject to that obligation is checked in the decree with the RSPP.

The evidence column is an EcosAgile working model, not a published standard. The frequency of checks on the first-aid kits is not set by the sources cited in this guide: the company chooses it with the RSPP and writes it down.

The small deadlines

These are the ones that get forgotten: an appointee with an expired course, a kit with material past its date, a drill carried out without a record. Good practice, not an obligation: a single calendar with an owner and a deadline for each (digitalisation section). Knowing who is on site at the time of an evacuation, by contrast, depends on the tracking of attendance and access, covered in the guide to time and attendance tracking.

In EcosAgile: safety appointments (fire-fighting officer, first-aid officer, safety supervisor) are assigned to a person with start date, company and site, and an expiring appointment generates a notification to the EHS manager one month before. First-aid kits have a master record and a list of checks with date, outcome and status (planned or completed); evacuation drills and inspections are recorded as H&S events with the participants; the “Safety evacuation” report gives the list of those present. Notifications go only to those with an active user account.

In-depth with the expert: in the 2024 EcosAgile webinar, the training of appointees (fire-fighting, first aid) with deadline schedules starts at 10:29, the register of kit checks at 29:07 (recorded in 2024): Corporate compliance: how to manage GDPR, whistleblowing, workplace safety and risks (in Italian).

14. Contracted work, the DUVRI and safety coordination

When a company or a self-employed worker works on another's premises, the risks add up and cross over. Article 26 of Legislative Decree 81/2008 regulates contracted work: it links the DUVRI to paragraphs 1 and 3, deals with safety costs in paragraph 5 and with the identification card in paragraph 8. Whether a DUVRI is needed for a given contract is determined by the text of the article, not by the mere fact that a contract exists: the check is done case by case with the RSPP.

Only the paragraphs cited in this section are reported from this article. Technical and professional suitability outside construction sites, cooperation and coordination, and the content of the DUVRI must be read in the text in force with a professional.

What is certain and what needs checking

The obligation of the identification card is certain: photograph, worker's personal details and indication of the employer, for those working under a contract or subcontract (Article 26(8); Article 18(1)(u)). Law 136/2010, Article 5, adds the date of hiring and, for subcontracting, the authorisation. Breach of Article 26(8) is punished with an administrative penalty for each worker (Article 55(5)(i)). Paragraph 8-bis concerns naming the supervisor to the client. Paragraph 3-bis excludes the DUVRI for intellectual services, mere supplies of materials or equipment, and works or services of up to five man-days in the year, but only if they do not involve a high fire risk, confined spaces, carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic or biological agents, asbestos, explosive atmospheres or the particular risks of Annex XI. Anyone who finds a summary that says “always” or “never” must check it against the text in force.

On construction sites the list is longer

For temporary or mobile construction sites, Article 90(9) lists for the client the contractors' technical and professional suitability (Annex XVII), the declaration of average workforce, the DURC (single social-security compliance certificate) and the notification under Article 99. Article 91 assigns to the design coordinator the PSC and the file, Article 92 concerns the execution coordinator. From 31 October 2025 the preliminary notification must specify the companies working as subcontractors (Annex XII, point 12, amended by Decree-Law 159/2025, Article 3(4)(c)). For the points-based licence and the badge see the construction sites section; for the roles of client and coordinators, the roles section.

The evidence column and the order of the checks are an EcosAgile working model, not a published standard.

Access and coordination

Example with invented data: an external firm replaces the filters of an extraction system in the paint shop over a weekend, with two workers and one self-employed person. Before opening the gate the client checks the cards, asks for the supervisor to be named and notes in writing whether a DUVRI is needed. On Monday, who needs to know that the system was touched? The rule does not regulate this specifically: it remains a choice of the company, with the RSPP, to communicate the works and the external people to the department supervisor and to the RLS.

Who enters, which area and at what time is an access topic, covered in the guide to time and attendance tracking. Supplier integrity and compliance in a broader sense are covered in the guide Whistleblowing and corporate compliance.

15. Construction sites: points-based licence and identification badge

As at 29 October 2026, on temporary or mobile construction sites three distinct things apply. The points-based licence (patente a crediti; Article 27 of Legislative Decree 81/2008) has been in force since 1 October 2024, with rules reinforced by Decree-Law 159/2025 converted by Law 198/2025. The identification card is already mandatory (Article 18(1)(u); Article 26(8)). The badge with a unique anti-counterfeiting code depends on a decree that, as at the same date, has not been adopted.

Status at 4 November 2026 according to Normattiva (the Italian State's online legislation database), INL Circular no. 1 of 23 February 2026 and the Ministry of Labour's monitoring (third quarter 2026). “No record of adoption” means that the act does not appear in these sources: it should be rechecked before deciding.

Construction sites 2026: the picture in one table

The table is an EcosAgile working summary of the sources indicated, not a legal text.

Points-based licence: how the score moves

Below 15 credits one cannot operate, except to complete ongoing activities when the works carried out exceed 30% of the contract value (paragraph 10). In case of death or permanent incapacity, precautionary suspension of up to 12 months is provided for (paragraph 8). Companies holding an SOA attestation of class III or higher are exempt (paragraph 15), and a decree may extend the licence to other sectors (paragraph 14).

Example with invented data: a company starts with 30 credits. After 1 January 2026 an inspection report is notified to it for three undeclared workers: 3 × 5 = 15 credits fewer on notification, and 15 remain, the minimum to operate. With a fourth undeclared worker the credits fall to 10 and the company is below the threshold.

Card and badge: what applies today

The card with photograph, personal details and employer is already mandatory in contracts and subcontracts, and its absence is sanctioned for each worker (Article 55(5)(i)). Decree-Law 159/2025 (Article 3(2)) provides that it be “equipped with a unique anti-counterfeiting code”, used as a badge and also available in digital form, for companies on construction sites under contract and subcontract and in other high-risk sectors identified by decree. INL Circular no. 1 of 23 February 2026 specifies that the badge does not replace the card: it adds the code. Full operation depends on the decree under Article 3(3), and once it is adopted, within the terms it will establish, the badge will be mandatory for companies and self-employed workers physically operating on construction sites under contract or subcontract and in the sectors identified.

As at 29 October 2026 there is no record of adoption of the decree that makes the badge with a unique code operational; the identification card already provided for remains mandatory. The Ministry's monitoring for the third quarter of 2026 speaks of implementing measures still to be adopted, without listing them, and the Ministry's regulations page, consulted on 4 November 2026 (latest entry 28 October 2026), does not show one on the badge. Anyone who reads elsewhere “mandatory from” a certain date must look for the act that says so; the route of the commissioners for post-earthquake reconstruction is a different thing from the national decree.

Labour flows and checks

The decree under Article 3(3), of the Ministries of Labour and of Infrastructure and Transport, after consulting the Garante, must set the arrangements and monitoring of labour flows. The higher-risk sectors depend on another decree (paragraph 6), of which there is no record of adoption. The rule provides for the badge also in digital form, through national tools interoperable with the SIISL (Information System for Social and Labour Inclusion); on the decree concerning the SIISL there is opinion Rep. 58/CSR of 30 April 2026 on a draft, and there is no record of final adoption. In the meantime the data that the card already requires can be kept in order: for each site, workers with employer, hiring date and, in subcontracting, the authorisation. The checking of contractors is in the section on contracted work and the DUVRI.

Attendance and access on site, that is who enters, when and through which gate, remain a time and attendance topic: they are in the guide to time and attendance tracking.

16. Agile working and safety

Agile working does not suspend the employer's safety obligations. The law explicitly requires a written notice on general and specific risks, delivered to the worker and the RLS at least once a year (Law 81/2017, Article 22). From 7 April 2026 the same obligation is also recalled by Legislative Decree 81/2008, Article 3(7-bis). The worker cooperates in implementing the measures.

What changed in 2026

The information-notice obligation does not arise in 2026: it is in Article 22 of Law 81/2017. Law no. 34 of 11 March 2026, Article 11, in force from 7 April 2026, inserted into the Consolidated Act Article 3(7-bis), under which, for agile working carried out in places that are not at the employer's legal disposal, the safety obligations (in particular those on display screen equipment) are discharged by delivering the written notice at least once a year. Breach is now among those punished by Article 55(5)(c), with arrest or a fine; the amounts are nominal and revalued (Article 306), and are not reported here. Text in force on 29 October 2026.

Display screens: a threshold to calculate

Title VII of Legislative Decree 81/2008 (Articles 172-179) calls a display screen user anyone who uses a display screen systematically or habitually for 20 hours a week, net of breaks (Article 173). For those above the threshold the following apply: workstation analysis of eyesight, posture and ergonomics (Article 174), the 15-minute break for every 120 minutes of continuous use, unless the collective agreement provides otherwise (Article 175), and the health surveillance of Article 176: a check-up every two years for those fit with conditions and for those who have turned 50, every five for the others, unless the occupational physician decides otherwise. Paragraph 7-bis recalls these obligations, but does not say that every agile worker is a display screen user: the threshold is calculated person by person. How it applies to those who alternate between home and office is determined by the company's risk assessment (section 3), with the RSPP and the occupational physician (section 6); the same assessment considers work-related stress (Article 28(1)).

Equipment, home and teleworking

Whoever assigns a laptop or a phone answers for the safety of those tools. Teleworking is a different arrangement, with rules of its own: Article 3(10) applies Title VII, requires the employer's equipment to comply with Title III, provides for access to the home with notice and consent, and requires measures against isolation. If in the company “smart working” is used for both, before writing the notice it is worth checking which of the two schemes has actually been signed.

What to put in the notice

The law indicates the general and specific risks; the rest is the company's choice.

• General risks of working away from the premises and specific risks of the job, with reference to the risk assessment.
• Guidance on eyesight, posture and ergonomics of the workstation.
• Breaks and continuous use of the screen.
• Tools assigned by the company and whom to report a problem to.
• The worker's role: cooperating in implementing the measures.
• Date of delivery, recipients (worker and RLS), proof of delivery and reminder for the annual renewal.

EcosAgile working list, not an official template. The mandatory contents are those of Article 22; the wording for your own company should be shared with the RSPP and, if needed, with a labour consultant (consulente del lavoro) or a lawyer.

Disconnection and attendance

Working hours and disconnection are work organisation and belong in the individual agreement; for that boundary there is the guide on time and attendance tracking.

17. Digitalising health and safety

Digitalising health and safety means keeping in a single database people, jobs, risks, training, PPE, check-ups and fitness judgments, work accidents and deadlines, so that a change of job or an approaching date does not depend on the memory of whoever manages the spreadsheet. The law does not impose a platform: Article 53 of Legislative Decree 81/2008 admits documentation in electronic format, under specific conditions.

What the rule asks of the IT medium

Article 53(2) requires, among other things, restricted access for those authorised by the employer, validation of the data traceable to whoever carried it out, changes only by addition to the information already stored, printing of the documents required and storage on two separate media. The DVR on an electronic medium also requires a certified date or signature (Article 28(2)).

In the chain risk, measure, evidence, deadline, responsibility, check, the first two are decisions of the risk assessment that no program takes in the company's place. Digital works on the others: software does not make a company compliant, it proves and makes repeatable what the company has decided.

Spreadsheets and platform compared

EcosAgile working comparison, built on the conditions of Article 53 of Legislative Decree 81/2008; it is not a published standard. The twenty criteria for evaluating software are in section 19.

When a spreadsheet is enough

It is enough if the following all hold together: one site, few workers, one or two people managing everything; few jobs and few deadlines a year; no health data in the file (the record is kept by the occupational physician, the company records the deadline and the judgment); a deadline schedule checked on a calendar, with backup, a person in charge and a deputy. It is not enough when there is more than one site or company, when people with different roles must see different things or when it is necessary to show who changed what. The practical boundary lies in the number of people who touch the data more than in the number of employees. These are qualitative EcosAgile criteria.

Health data: what a screen shows

The health and risk record is kept by the occupational physician; the written judgment goes to the employer (Article 25(1)(c); Article 41(6-bis)). With digital tools the problem is what appears in lists, emails and screens: the deadline alone or the type of condition can hint at a health condition. The Garante, by decision of 29 April 2026, sanctioned the posting on a notice board of a service order with the measures prescribed by the occupational physician for a worker. Extending that to an on-screen list is an EcosAgile reading; details are in section 7.

In EcosAgile: the Health & Safety module has a Health&Safety Calendar (check-ups, courses and other events), deadline schedules for check-ups and courses and a floor plan that marks in red PPE and first-aid kits with deadlines within 30 days. The 14 standard email notifications have editable text and recipients and go only to those with an active user account.

In EcosAgile: safety documents are held in archives with company, contact person, status and attachments; fitness judgments and the health record are attached in health archives separate from the general ones (separation of the document archive, not of the permissions). Reports include: Medical check-up analysis, PPE usage analysis, Accident/incident analysis.

Master data, jobs and attendance

The person's job and site should come from a single source, the HR master data (guide on the digitalisation of HR processes). For attendance and access there is the guide on time and attendance tracking; the hours worked for the accident indices return in section 18.

18. KPIs, audits and continuous improvement

A dashboard holds up if it puts outcome indicators (work accidents, severity) next to preventive indicators: near misses analysed, actions closed on time, deadlines met, training coverage, checks carried out. A single accident index measures what has already happened and, with few events, fluctuates by chance. Every KPI has a formula, a period and an owner; for indices the multiplier is also written down, otherwise two companies compare different numbers.

Outcome indicators and preventive indicators

According to the EU-OSHA OSHwiki entry on performance indicators, using only outcome ones is like driving while looking in the rear-view mirror, and few preventive indicators are standardised. For this reason the thresholds are working proposals. A zero may mean prevention, under-reporting or luck.

Accident indices and the multiplier

Frequency uses hours worked, incidence the average number of employees, severity the hours with a multiplier k, which depending on the source is 1,000 or 1,000,000: k is always written next to the number, because indices with a different k are not comparable. Reference: UNI 7249:2007.

EcosAgile working model, not a published standard: to be validated with the RSPP and the occupational physician.

Example with invented data: 150 employees, 264,000 hours, 5 accidents, 85 days of incapacity. Frequency = 5 × 1,000,000 ÷ 264,000 = 18.94. Incidence = 5 ÷ 150 × 100,000 = 3,333. Severity = 85 × 1,000 ÷ 264,000 = 0.32 with k = 1,000, but 321.97 with k = 1,000,000.

The numerator must also be declared: “work accident” has several perimeters.

They are not the same phenomenon: your own index should not be ranked against these figures.

Process indicators

This too is an EcosAgile working model. For check-ups, only the expiry and validity of the fitness judgment, never clinical data (section 7).

They are read in pairs: more near misses reported does not mean less safety, and they should be seen together with analysis times and actions closed. Rewarding “zero accidents” tends to make reports fall. Process: section 10. The hours worked come from time and attendance tracking; if the sites define them differently, the consolidated figure is not valid.

Audits, review and ISO 45001

In units with more than 15 workers the annual periodic meeting (Article 35) covers the trend in work accidents, aggregated health surveillance, PPE and training: it is the natural venue for these tables. Collective health results are anonymous only (Article 25(1)(i)). The internal audit verifies that what is written really happens: annual programme, findings with owner and deadline, in the same list as the actions.

ISO 45001 is a voluntary standard on management systems, following the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, with clauses on monitoring (9.1), internal audit (9.2) and management review (9.3); it sets no performance values. Article 30(5) of Legislative Decree 81/2008 cites UNI EN ISO 45001:2023+A1:2024 among the references for the presumption of conformity of organisation and management models, no longer BS OHSAS 18001:2007. The revision is under way (draft put to the vote since June 2026); outcome and publication date are not determined as at 29 October 2026.

In EcosAgile: the reports available give counts and deadlines: “Accident/incident analysis” (accidents and absences), “Medical check-up analysis” with the deadline schedule, the course deadline schedule, “PPE usage analysis”, the Health&Safety calendar. They serve as a basis for the process indicators; for the accident indices, hours worked and a declared formula are still needed.

19. How to choose health and safety software

Choose starting from the company's processes and roles, not from a list of features: which deadlines are being lost today, who needs to see what, from which systems the master data, hours worked and training arrive. The law admits documentation on an electronic medium (Article 53 of Legislative Decree 81/2008) and does not impose a platform. Software proves obligations and makes them repeatable, but on its own it does not make the company compliant. The twenty criteria are there to get the supplier to show the evidence.

Three questions before talking to suppliers

1. How many companies and sites are there, and who needs to see different things?
2. Where is the health data today and who opens it?
3. What data must arrive from other systems: hours worked, job, courses?

With one site and few workers, the comparison with spreadsheets is in section 17.

The twenty criteria

Each row starts from a need, translates it into a function and indicates the evidence to ask for. An article is the legal basis; “good practice” and “proposal” are recommended choices, not obligations.

EcosAgile working model, not a published standard; it does not replace the advice of the RSPP, the occupational physician and the DPO.

Which criteria are knock-out

Our proposal: for those who process health data, criteria 5, 7, 9 and 10 are knock-out, the others are weighted. The reason lies in the Garante decisions of 16 January 2025, 10 July 2025 and 29 April 2026: a medical-history summary sent to the employer and HR, return-to-work interviews with a questionnaire, a service order posted with the measures prescribed for a worker. The risk is also in what appears in lists, notifications, dashboards and deadline schedules: a deadline and the type of condition can be enough to reveal a health condition. Ask to see a notification and a list of deadlines as HR sees them (section 7). Data exit matters because certain documents are kept for a long time: the original of the health record at least ten years.

What the table does not cover

Two criteria depend on pending rules. For near misses, the guidelines and decree under Article 15 of Decree-Law 159/2025 have no record of adoption as at 29 October 2026 and CONDIVIDO remains voluntary: ask for exportable and classifiable data, not a format declared by the supplier (section 10). For construction sites the identification card is already mandatory, while the badge with a unique code depends on a decree with no record of adoption at the same date (section 15). To be requested in writing: scope and date of any information-security certifications, location of data and sub-suppliers, recovery time, and how the supplier updates the requirements when a rule changes (Article 37 from 7 April 2026, Article 77 from 31 October 2025, Article 41 from 31 December 2025). Privacy roles and the impact assessment are validated by the DPO.

In EcosAgile: the Health & Safety module manages the job-task register, the risk assessment plan with archive of the DVR file, deadlines and email notifications, health surveillance, mandatory training, PPE, accidents and non-conformity reports, emergencies and documents; company and site are fields and filters, and there are three access profiles. The table serves to evaluate any software, including this one. Discover the Health & Safety module.

20. Frequently asked questions