The members of the Board of Directors are always liable in the event of an accident, unless there a formal deed of proxy which cannot be substituted by de facto proxy (Il Quotidiano del Lavoro de Il Sole 24 Ore, 14 January 2020 – Alberto De Luca, Luca Cairoli)

The Court of Cassation, with judgement no. 54 filed on 3 January 2020, returned to express its position regarding the distribution of responsibilities for accident prevention obligations in limited companies. Expressing a general principle, the Court first of all pointed out that in corporations the employer’s obligations under the law relating to the prevention of accidents”are incumbent on all members of the board of directors without distinction, except in the case of delegation, validly conferred, of the position of guarantee“. In the case in question, a managing director of a limited company had appealed against the ruling of the Florence Court of Appeal, confirming the judgement at first instance, by which he was held liable for the crime of injury through negligence, for having caused personal injury to a worker injured in the performance of his work by omissive conduct consisting in not having adequately fulfilled his obligations in terms of safety at work. The Managing Director appealed to the Court of Cassation against this decision. Specifically, the appellant complained first of all that the Court of Appeal, in attributing to him responsibility for the accident, had not taken into account that there were other persons within the company organisation specifically designated to manage employment relations in their entirety. In particular, the appellant managing director argued that in his case the principle of cumulative responsibility at the top management of the company should not apply, in the presence of a person outside the Board of Directors, acting as the person in charge, as this latter is also exclusively responsible for compliance with obligations regarding safety at work.