Workplace Health and Safety Duties in Italy for Remote and Office Staff

If you hire in Italy, you take on health and safety duties from the day your employee starts. This applies to office staff and to people who work from home. Italy treats safety as an employer obligation, not a favor. The rules are broad, and the paperwork is real.

This article explains what US founders, HR teams and finance and legal ops leads need to know. It covers risk assessment, training and the specific duties for remote work.

Who carries the duty  

The employer carries it. That means the legal entity that holds the employment contract. If you have no Italian entity, you cannot easily meet these duties on your own. The employer of record model solves this because the EOR is the legal employer in Italy. It owns the safety obligations on paper and in practice, while you direct the daily work.

You still have a role. You must give accurate information about how and where the person works. You must also follow the safety instructions the EOR passes on to you.

Risk assessment  

Italian law requires a written risk assessment. The employer must identify the hazards in the workplace, judge how serious they are, and set out measures to reduce them. The document must be kept and updated when work conditions change.

For a typical office job, the hazards are familiar. They include screen work, posture, lighting, electrical equipment, fire safety and stress. The assessment should cover each of these in plain terms.

The law also expects the employer to name a few key roles. These include a head of the prevention and protection service, workers’ safety representatives, and people trained for first aid and fire response. Depending on the risks, an occupational physician may also be needed. That physician runs health surveillance for workers whose roles call for it.

A foreign company rarely has any of this in place. An EOR usually does, and it can attach your employee to its existing structure.

Safety training  

Every employee must receive safety training. The training must match the real risks of the job. A software engineer and a warehouse operator do not need the same course.

Training has a general part and a part specific to the role. It must be delivered at hiring, and it must be refreshed when duties change or when new risks appear. The employer must keep records of who was trained and when.

Training is not optional, and a signed document alone is not enough. Inspectors and courts look at whether the training was real and suited to the person. If an accident happens, missing training records weigh heavily against the employer.

Practical points for your team:

• Tell your EOR early about the actual tasks the person will do.
• Flag any travel, equipment or site visits that change the risk profile.
• Make sure the employee has time to complete training during working hours.
• Keep proof of completion in the personnel file.

Remote work and smart working  

Many US companies hire Italians to work from home. Italy has a framework for this, usually called smart working or agile work. It does not remove safety duties. It changes how they are met.

The arrangement is set in a written agreement between employer and employee. That agreement should cover how the work is done, the tools used, and how the employer can give instructions. It should also address rest periods and the right to disconnect.

On safety, the employer must give the remote worker a written information notice. The notice explains the general risks tied to working outside the company premises. It also gives guidance on how to set up a safe workspace and how to work safely. Employers are expected to update it when the situation changes, and to deliver it on a regular basis.

The employee has a duty too. They must cooperate in applying the safety measures and follow the instructions in the notice. Employers do not inspect a private home the way they inspect an office. So the law relies on clear information and on the worker’s cooperation.

Equipment matters. If you provide a laptop, monitor or chair, the employer is responsible for supplying equipment that is safe and fit for use. Define who supplies what in the agreement, and keep it in writing.

Accidents and insurance  

Work accidents are reported to the Italian national insurer for work injuries. The employer registers the employee with this insurer and pays the contributions. Accidents on the way to work and accidents in a remote setting can also raise questions about coverage. Your EOR handles registration and reporting. You should tell them quickly if anything happens.

Common mistakes  

Foreign companies tend to make the same errors:

• Assuming remote staff fall outside the safety rules.
• Skipping the written risk assessment because the team is small.
• Treating training as a one-time task.
• Leaving the remote-work notice out of the onboarding pack.
• Failing to pass on changes in the job to the legal employer.

Each of these can lead to penalties and, in a serious case, personal liability for the people responsible. The fix is simple. Keep documents current, train people properly and keep communication open with the legal employer.

What to do now  

Before your first Italian hire starts, ask your EOR for the risk assessment that covers the role. Confirm who the safety officers are. Schedule training for the start date. For a remote hire, sign the smart-working agreement and send the safety information notice with the contract.

Do this once, and the process repeats for every hire after that.

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