Legislation in reference to health and safety in the workplace is part of the broader area of the protection of life and physical integrity as well as public safety.
Within the specific environment of health and safety in the workplace, the assets in question require protection against the risk of damage which is usually involuntary and is someone’s fault.
In order to safeguard the protected legal asset, the law imposes a series of safety obligations for certain individuals (entrepreneurs, employers, managers). These qualified individuals therefore have the legal duty and power to prevent harm to the protected legal assets; in other words, they hold a safety position which implies the duty and power to control sources of danger and criminal liability ex art. 40, cpv, c.p., for not having prevented the event which took place, or simply for having failed to comply with the law, regardless of ulterior consequences.
A typical example ex art. 40 cp.: an accident at work in violation of specific rules laid down in Legislative Decree 81/2008 or in violation of regular measures of a more general nature.