The European Agreement on Stress at Work of 8 October 2004, to which Legislative Decree 81/08 refers, states that “stress is a state, which is accompanied by physical, psychological or social complaints or dysfunctions and which results from individuals feeling unable to bridge a gap with the requirements or expectations placed on them.”

What factors cause work-related stress?

Not all indications of stress at work may be related to work itself. Indeed, stress caused by reasons outside work may lead to a decline in work performance. The factors that cause work-related stress may be linked to both the content of the work and its organization: poor communication, job insecurity, physical or social isolation, too much or too little work, shifts that are too long or that affect social rhythms …

Is it necessary to assess work-related stress?

Legislative Decree 81/08 specifies the obligation for employers to assess the risks linked to work-related stress. Further details are available in the Ministry of Labour Circular of 18 November 2010.

From 1 January to 31 March occupational health physicians must provide in electronic form the information specified in attachment 3B concerning Health and Safety Supervision for the previous year.

The Ministerial Decree of 9 July 2012 redefined the contents of attachments 3A (risk, health and safety record) and 3B (communication to the local health authority of workers’ occupational risk, health and safety data) of Legislative Decree 81/08 and how to forward attachment 3B.

In particular, Art. 3 of the Ministerial Decree of 9 July 2012 specifies the content and forms for the forwarding of the aggregated data and those on workers’ occupational risks.

In particular:
1) The communication of data for epidemiological purposes, see preceding para., has to be done by the Occupational Health Physician by the end of the first quarter of the year following the year concerned.
2) The forwarding of the data covered by the preceding paras. 1 and 2 has to be done solely in electronic form (through the INAIL portal).

This task is compulsory for the Occupational Health Physician and accompanies other mandatory duties such as inspections, annual meetings, consultancy on the risk assessment document, etc.

This task entails the collection of statistical data using electronic tables, which then have to be manually transferred using the portal made available by INAIL for this purpose.

Once the data have been recorded, the company will be notified – by electronic communication – by INAIL of the commencement of the collection of data on the health and safety activity of the Occupational Health Physician.