Accident at Work and Occupational Illness: the Difference

In the event of an accident at work or an occupational disease, the law requires the signing of an insurance policy to protect the worker. Furthermore, the employer must necessarily adopt the necessary safety measures to avoid damage that could cause health problems for its workers.

But what specifically are accidents at work and occupational diseases.

THE’accident at work it is a traumatic event that can occur due to violent causes in the workplace and which makes it impossible to carry out one’s activity for more than three days. It is defined as a symptom of failure to comply with the prevention obligations established to protect the health of workers. By law, specific insurance coverage is mandatory to cover the compensation of workers who have suffered damage.

Accidents at work are defined as:

• injuries to the health of the professional which can even cause death;
• the correlation between the event and the performance of the work activity;
• the violent cause;
• Furthermore, accidents at work, better known as commuting accidents, are all those events that occur on the journey between home and the workplace.

For technopathy or occupational disease instead, it means a pathology that the worker contracts while carrying out his activity and which is due to exposure to factors present in the place where he works.

Presidential Decree number 1124 of 1965 provides for the stipulation of an insurance system that protects workers who contract an occupational disease. Specifically, article 3 establishes that all those occupational diseases present in the tables of annexes 4 and 5, updated over the years, are included in INAIL coverage.

In practice, when a professional contracts one of these diseases present in the attachments, he only has to demonstrate that there is a correlation between the pathology and the work activity. It may happen that a professional contracts a disease in the workplace that is not listed in the tables; in this case, to obtain INAIL benefits it is necessary to make a report, but the worker will also have to demonstrate that the disease is caused by the elements present in the place where he works.

It is necessary to underline a further distinction between the accident and the occupational disease. In both cases the professional contracts an illness during work, but in the case of an accident at work the event must occur due to a «violent cause». We therefore mean an event that causes injury or death to the worker, such as a machine detaching from the ceiling and falling on the professional. In the case of an occupational disease, reference is made to an injury which occurred due to a «slow cause», i.e. a factor, an element of risk to which the worker has been exposed for long periods of time such as constant exposure to chemical substances which can cause respiratory problems.

To avoid running into these unpleasant situations, the worker must take care of his own health, safety and that of the people he works with. A few simple precautions are enough, such as observing the employer’s provisions, using all precautions, following training and undergoing health checks, to limit the damage.