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The mandatory INAIL insurance covers any accident occurring due to “violent cause in the course of work” from which death, permanent disability, or temporary total disability for more than three days results. It differs from an occupational disease because the triggering event is sudden and violent, whereas in the latter case the causes are slow and spread over time.
The violent cause is a factor acting from outside the workplace, with intense action concentrated over time, and has the following characteristics: effectiveness, speed, and externality. It may be caused by toxic substances, muscular exertion, microorganisms, viruses or parasites, and by climatic and microclimatic conditions. In short, a violent cause is any external attack that damages the psycho-physical integrity of the worker.
The course of work is a concept different from the common spatial and temporal categories summarized in the expressions “at the workplace” o “during working hours”. These are all situations, including environmental ones, in which work is carried out and in which the risk to the worker is imminent. The possible damage may be caused by:
- elements of the production system
- situations and factors inherent to the worker
- situations connected to work activity.
Therefore, it is not sufficient that the event occurs during work; it must occur because of work, as established by the so-called etiological examination, that is, the examination of the causes of the accident. In short, there must be a relationship, even indirect, of cause and effect between the work activity performed by the injured person and the accident that causes the injury.
Are excluded from coverage accidents resulting from conduct unrelated to work, those simulated by the worker, or those whose consequences have been willfully aggravated by the worker himself. On the other hand, eligible for coverage are accidents occurring due to the worker’s fault, since the subjective aspects of his conduct (inexperience, negligence, or imprudence) can have no relevance for compensation of the harmful event, provided that these are aspects of conduct that can nevertheless be traced back to work-related purposes.
Accident in itinere
INAIL protects workers in the event of accidents occurring during the normal journey to and from the place of residence and the place of work. The so-called accident in itinere may also occur during the normal route that the worker must take to travel from one workplace to another, in the case of multiple employment relationships, or during the usual journey to consume meals, if there is no company canteen. Compensation has also been recognized for an accident suffered by a worker during a deviation from the home-work route due to accompanying children to school. Any mode of travel is covered by the insurance (public transport, on foot, etc.) provided that the work-related purpose, the normality of the route, and the compatibility of the schedules are verified. Conversely, travel made using a private vehicle, including a bicycle in particular circumstances, is covered by the insurance only if such use is necessary.
Any interruptions and deviations from the normal route are not covered by the insurance, except in certain special cases where conditions of necessity exist or if they have been agreed with the employer. Therefore, there are some exceptions, such as:
- interruptions/deviations carried out in implementation of an instruction from the employer;
- “Necessary” interruptions/deviations, meaning those due to force majeure (for example, a mechanical failure), essential and unavoidable requirements, or the fulfilment of legally binding obligations (for example, providing assistance to victims of a road accident);
- "necessary" interruptions/deviations for accompanying children to school;
- short stops that do not alter the risk conditions.
Use of a private vehicle
The use of a car or scooter may be considered necessary only in certain situations.
Examples:
- the vehicle provided or prescribed by the employer for work-related needs;
- the workplace is unreachable by public transport or reachable only not in time for the work shift;
- public transport requires excessively long waiting times;
- public transport entails a significant waste of time compared with the use of a private vehicle;
- the distance to the nearest public transport stop must be covered on foot and is excessively long.
Consumption of alcohol, drugs and psychotropic substances
- Compensation remains excluded for accidents directly caused by the abuse of alcoholic substances and psychotropic drugs, by the non-therapeutic use of narcotics and hallucinogens, as well as by the driver’s lack of a driving licence.
Employer
The Occupational Health Surveillance Office of the Polytechnic University of Bari is responsible for receiving accident reports relating to incidents occurring to persons carrying out work activities within the Polytechnic.
Obligations in the event of a workplace accident
For accidents occurring to the generality of dependent or equivalent workers, diagnosed not expected to heal within three days, excluding the day of the event, the employer is obliged to submit the accident report/notification within two days of receiving the medical certificate details (certificate identification number, date of issue and prognosis period) already transmitted electronically to the INAIL Institute directly by the doctor or by the competent healthcare facility authorised to issue it (Article 53 of Consolidated Act 1124/1965, as amended by Legislative Decree 151/2015), regardless of any assessment as to whether the legal conditions for compensation are met.
If incapacity due to an accident diagnosed as curable within three days extends to the fourth, the employer must submit the report/notification within two days of receiving the details of the new medical certificate (certificate identification number, date of issue and prognosis period) already transmitted electronically to the Institute directly by the doctor or by the competent healthcare facility.
In the event of a fatal accident or one involving danger of death (fatal or with a prognosis exceeding thirty days), the employer must report it within twenty-four hours of the event, by any means that allows proof of dispatch, without prejudice to the obligation to submit the accident report/notification to INAIL within the time limits and in the manner prescribed by law (Article 53, paragraphs 1 and 2, Consolidated Act 1124/1965).
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What to do in the event of an accident
The information in this section is intended for all workers and equivalent persons at the Polytechnic University of Bari. It should be noted that worker means any person who has an employment relationship, regardless of the contractual type, with the Administration of the Polytechnic, therefore:
- faculty members, researchers, technical, administrative and library staff;
- non-permanent staff carrying out teaching, research or technical-administrative collaboration activities on the basis of private-law contracts or temporary relationships, however named, who carry out activities at the Polytechnic’s facilities;
- students enrolled in university and post-university courses of any type and level, research fellows, doctoral candidates, postgraduate medical trainees, interns, scholarship holders and persons equivalent to them, when attending teaching, research or service laboratories and, by reason of the specific activity carried out, are exposed to risks identified in the risk assessment document.
In the event of an accident, including while commuting, the worker is obliged to notify the employer immediately, even if the injury is minor (Article 52, Presidential Decree No. 1124/1965 and subsequent amendments and additions), by completing the appropriate accident report form worker, accompanied, among other things, by the identification number of the medical certificate, the date of its issuance, the days of prognosis relating to the event, the tax code, their telephone and home contact details, and email address.
The accident report may be delivered by hand or by email (francesca.coniglio@poliba.it)
The worker must immediately notify, or have someone notify on their behalf if they are unable to do so, their employer. The accident must also be reported in the case of minor injuries. Depending on the severity of the accident, the worker may:
- contact the company doctor, if one is present in the workplace
- go to, or be accompanied to, the Emergency Department of the nearest hospital
- contact their attending physician.
In any case, it is necessary to explain to the doctor how and where the accident occurred.
Any doctor providing first aid to a worker injured at work is required to issue the medical certificate stating the diagnosis and the number of days of total temporary incapacity for work and to transmit it exclusively electronically to INAIL.
If the worker fails to comply with this obligation and if the employer has not in any case submitted the report/notification within the legal time limits, the injured worker loses the right to temporary allowance for the days preceding it.
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When must the accident notification be sent to INAIL
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Notification to the employer
(by the worker)
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Report to INAIL
(by the employer)
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Accident with prognosis of up to three days
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YES
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NO (electronic notification for statistical purposes only)
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Accident with prognosis of more than three days
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YES
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YES
(within 48 hours of receiving the medical certificate details (certificate identification number, date of issue and prognosis period)
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Fatal accident or accident with risk of death
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YES
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YES
(within 24 hours of the accident, send immediately by any means that allows proof of dispatch)
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Student accident
INAIL accident insurance coverage is also extended to students and students of university and post-university courses of any type and level, research fellows, doctoral candidates, postgraduate students, trainees, scholarship holders and equivalent persons, when they attend teaching, research or service laboratories and, by reason of the specific activity carried out, are exposed to risks identified in the risk assessment document.
In this context, some examples and clarifications are necessary.
INAIL also protects trips made by students of vocational or art schools to companies, production sites, exhibitions, and activities organized by the institutions and carried out on the occasion of events that make contact with productive realities relevant to their field of study possible.
An accident occurring during training placements involving students with training and employment contracts unquestionably falls within INAIL coverage, and in this case there is even entitlement to payment of the temporary incapacity benefit.
University students undertaking internships abroad in Member States of the European Union are likewise covered by INAIL accident insurance, provided that the period of stay abroad does not exceed 12 months.
It should be specified at this point that, as a rule, an injured student is not entitled to any allowance for total temporary incapacity, except in the case described above, but only to compensation for biological damage or to a partial incapacity pension.
With circular no. 44 of 2016 INAIL extended the scope of protection to students involved in school-work alternation projects.
Indeed, the aforementioned circular states that students “... engaged in school-based work-study pathways receive insurance coverage also for the risks associated with such activity which is included within the scope of work-based training referred to in the aforementioned Article 4, no. 5 of the Consolidated Act.”.
For this reason, the circular continues, “... It follows that all accidents occurring in the “work environment” are compensable. In this regard, it should be noted that “work environment” means not only the company premises, but also any outdoor construction site or public place, provided that a school-work alternation project is carried out there and the activity performed there has the objective characteristics listed in Article 1, no. 28 of Presidential Decree 1124/65…”.
The further innovation is that, in this context, “occupational disease” also becomes covered, although it is usually not considered for students in the strict sense.
INAIL coverage, understood as compensation for injury occurring during the performance of work duties or as compensation for illness contracted as a result of work activity, is therefore extended to all students engaged in school-work alternation activities, but only during the performance of work activities.
Always considering that these are activities assimilated to work in the strict sense,injury in itinereis also covered, but only if the accident occurs during the school-company (or institution) route where the activity itself takes place.
In the event of an accident, the student is required to report it immediately to the employer, even if minor (Article 52, Presidential Decree no. 1124/1965 and subsequent amendments and additions), by completing the appropriate student injury report form, accompanied, among other things, by the identification number of the medical certificate, the date of its issuance, the days of prognosis relating to the event, the tax code, their telephone and home contact details, and email address.
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The University has activated a policy “Civil liability for miscellaneous risks” which includes, among other things, third-party liability insurance and civil liability insurance toward employees and students. *
The policy provides coverage for injuries suffered by students during their stay in the premises and buildings of the Polytechnic University of Bari (classrooms, laboratories, offices and similar) or in any other place, even outside the Polytechnic, both in Italy and abroad, where students may be for study, internship, visits and experiments, as well as during travel made even by public and/or private means provided they are duly authorized or otherwise funded by the Polytechnic University of Bari, as well as duly authorized educational trips.
By way of example, it is appropriate to highlight some risks covered by the aforementioned policy.
“…the guarantee includes damages caused and/or suffered by students:
- who are within the Polytechnic’s premises for study purposes or during recreational-sporting activities;
- outside the Polytechnic’s premises, when carrying out activities on behalf of the Policyholder;
- who are at other Schools and/or Universities (in any country in the world) for study purposes.
The Coverage also includes the provision of all services carried out also through:
- recent graduates, adjunct professors and all those whose work the Polytechnic uses in its activities;
- university students;
- volunteers or volunteer associations;
- scholarship holders, trainees admitted to attend the facilities on a voluntary basis and for professional development;
- training and orientation trainees;
- trainees of the various University Units, already graduates, who carry out the internship program to sit the State Examination;
- master’s or specialization students;
- operation and management of any other type of university education and recreational center, community center, cinema and theater, museum, library.
- also included are recreational, training and/or hobby activities, organized and/or managed and/or sponsored and/or promoted by the Policyholder; such Coverage is valid provided that the harmful event reveals some direct liability or commissioning liability of the Policyholder or its joint liability with third parties.
It also includes the personal liability of lecturers, tutors, supervisors, attendants and staff in general, as well as of students, pupils, enrollees, guests and/or participants in the activities described…
For information regarding the above, please contact the Legal Affairs Office
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How to behave in the event of a relapse
If, after resuming work, the worker feels unwell for reasons related to the injury and returns to the emergency room or to their own doctor, the certificate issued must specify that this is a relapse from the injury already reported (temporary readmission).
In the event of failure to recover within the assigned period of absence
If, upon expiry of the period of absence from work assigned by the emergency room doctor, the injured person wishes to request an extension because they have not yet recovered, they may go, at their discretion, to: the INAIL outpatient clinics of the relevant office, their general practitioner, a specialist, or the emergency room. The injured person is obliged to promptly provide the employer with the medical certificates attesting any continuation of the injury.
Medical examination prior to returning to work
Following an absence from work for a period exceeding 60 days, the injured person is required to undergo a medical examination at the Occupational Physician’s clinic in order to verify fitness for the job (Art. 41 Legislative Decree 81/2008). The above medical check is also mandatory for those absent due to illness not caused by injury.
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Contacts
Head of the Occupational Health Surveillance Office
Recruitment, Careers and Staff Training Office
University Occupational Physician:
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