**1. Introduction**

Italy is the second country in Europe for manufacturing production and the nation week in the world from the point of view of industrialization, albeit with a limited territory and population. For many decades, this process of industrialization has had to face various problems relating to situations of risk of accidents at work. Each economic phase involves the definition of different risk conditions. The passage from the industrial model to a tertiary economy and to the "Fourth capitalism" has led many countries to the overcoming of the central function of manufacturing production, for the promotion of a system based on services. This has also happened to countries with a great industrial tradition, such as Italy and Germany. However, this situation has not entirely limited the conditions of exposure to the risk of accidents at work: the maintenance of a significant presence in industrial production has been accompanied by the new risk conditions that characterize the new economic models and which extend to the sector of tertiary and services. For this reason, in the last 20 years, Italian legislation and the system of employment contracts have placed a strong focus on the prevention of risks at work, introducing important obligations for each company and specific figures, such as the Safety Manager. Italy has a very significant law regarding the prevention and protection of health and safety in the workplace, the "Consolidated text for health and safety in the workplace" [1] (Legislative Decree no. 81 of 2008), a national body called Inail which carries out insurance activities, but also for the prevention of occupational risks, information, training, and assistance in the field of safety and health at work and a national inspection agency for checks in companies. However, the issue of

exposure to the risk of accidents at work remains a very present phenomenon, which must be considered due to the following in-depth elements, which constitute important aspects of the evolution of the economic and production system, destined to produce effects also in the coming years:


This situation must be seen as a whole and determines significant impacts on society and on the health of citizens, which is useful to examine and evaluate.
