Sicurezza della circolazione ferroviaria e sicurezza sul lavoro: confini disciplinari e responsabilità datoriali nelle “organizzazioni complesse” (Nota a Tribunale Milano, 25 febbraio 2025, n. 2241)

Abstract

The essay comments on the judgment of the Court of Milan, criminal section V, no. 2241 of 25 February 2025, pronounced with reference to the Pioltello railway disaster and in continuity with the position expressed by the Supreme Court in relation to the well-known Viareggio massacre (Cass. pen., section IV, 8 January 2021, no. 32899). First, the Author dwells on the difference between the regulations on health and safety at work and the rules governing the safety of railway traffic, taking into account the distinct areas of risk and the different purposes of protection underlying the two subjects. Secondly, the evaluation parameters useful for identifying the employer's position of guarantee in the field of prevention within company contexts characterized by models of decision-making and organizational decentralization and, therefore, by the "multi-employer" prevention are clarified. In these complex organizations, in fact, the simultaneous presence of an employer at the top of the entire organization is determined - which could therefore be called "top" – and of one or more employers who could be defined as "subordinate", with respect to which it is possible to determine a clear perimeter of the respective prevention obligation so that the former is responsible for organizational prevention and high vigilance functions. while the latter - and only them – are required to fulfil more minute and detailed obligations due to their proximity to the specific functional, structural or geographical area of operation of the organisation itself.