La responsabilità dell'ente per colpa ed i sistemi di prevenzione degli infortuni: le linee guida e la legislazione internazionale

The paper's aim is to study the responsibility of the companies related to crimes listed in the art. 25 septies Legislative Decree (D. Lgs.) no. 231/2001. Given a brief excursus on the criminal risks in accident prevention and in the healthiness of the workplaces, it was proposed a comparative view of the theme, analysing the historical profiles and the current regulations in British and Spanish laws. Due to the peculiarities of each legal system, English and Spanish legislation has followed very different development pathways. The English system does not have a law really equivalent to Legislative Decree no. 231/2001, providing several sources of fines for companies, if a relevant offence is committed. The Spanish law has followed the Italian footprints, giving life to a system entirely similar to ours and, indeed, in some ways better developed, even because it takes into account the Italian experience. Although with different developments both for the times and for the modalities, the British and Spanish legislations have reached a similar result, at least for the matter of health and safety in the workplace. In other words, a company is expected to be responsible for ensuring the healthiness of workplaces and the safety of workers. The European response to the needs of preparing a system for the general prevention of criminal offences has been homogeneous and responding to what is required by European laws and international Conventions. They had set the theme of "criminalization" of companies for a long time, given the threat of a sanction affecting the life of the company or, in any case, its "lifeblood", or its economic substances. Also in Great Britain and Spain, moreover, the prevention of offences committed by an institution has been ensured through the implementation of the non-compulsory standards, such as OHSAS and ISO.