New (work) environments in the wake of the reform of Articles 9 and 41 of the Italian Constitution: what prospects for the employers’ preventive obligations?

Abstract

Among the most critical issues in the ongoing doctrine and jurisprudence debate are those that concern (i) employer responsibility for occupational health and safety in connection with new jobs and (ii) emerging risks associated with new ways of performing work. This debate has recently been amplified by the new concept of ‘work environment’, which, according to some authors, now also includes the company’s external environment due to the reform of Articles 9 and 41 of the Constitution. In fact, with the explicit introduction of the obligation to protect the environment and the principle of sustainability in Article 41 of the Constitution, it is appropriate to reflect on the possibility of remodelling the prevention obligations and reinterpreting the employers’ safety obligation in view of sustainability. The paper addresses the issue of the role of the firm in environmental policies: promotion and accountability with the dual perspective of a theoretical analysis and discussion paper. In the wake of the experience already gained by collective bargaining and participation techniques in occupational health and safety, the paper will first look at the extension of the preventive obligation and the related criminal liability to the external environment, and then focus on the new perspectives of negotiated regulation of this obligation.