Which Risk Approach to Protect Occupational Health and Safety? Evidence from Italian Regulations

Occupational accidents are one of the greatest causes of death and injury. Each year, more than 2.3 million people die from accidents at work, and approximately 317 million people are victims of non-fatal occupational diseases. The magnitude of the problem has inspired the introduction, at both international and national levels, of legal rules to protect health and safety at work. This paper proposes an organizational discourse on the approach to risk prevention proposed by these norms and the methodological issues related to the development of operational guidelines. We then discuss the consistency of the approach to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) risk prevention promoted by the Italian OHS regulation with respect to its objectives, i.e., to avoid the occurrence of accidents and occupational diseases.