The minimum savings of the company for accident prevention measures does not exclude liability pursuant to Legislative Decree 231/01

The Court of Cassazione, Criminal Section IV with  decision of 24 March 2022, n. 13218, stated that the fact that the savings achieved due to the failure to adopt the accident prevention measures were minimal, compared to the huge expenses that the company faces for maintenance and safety, is of no importance except in a context of general compliance by part of the company of the provisions on safety at work and in the absence of other proof that the natural person, by failing to adopt certain precautions, acted precisely for the purpose of obtaining a benefit for the legal person.

This circumstance is therefore not relevant in the hypothesis in which the risk has been assessed as existing by the same employer and the measures to prevent it, indicated in the risk assessment document, have then been knowingly disregarded for a long period of time. In its grounds, the Court recalls that: - the "savings" for the company, in which the objective attribution criterion represented by the interest is realized, can also consist only in the reduction of processing times (Section 4, no. 16598 of 24/01/2019, Tecchio, Rv. 27557001; Section 4, n. 29538 of 28/05/2019, Calcinoni, Rv. 27659603) and such savings can also be achieved by allowing the simultaneous movement of men and vehicles without delimiting their respective areas of action; - the requirement that the crime be committed in the interest of the entity does not require a systematic violation of accident prevention regulations and is also recognizable in relation to isolated transgressions if other factual evidence demonstrates the finalistic link between the violation and the interest of the entity (Section . 4, n. 12149 of 03/24/2021, Rodenghi, Rv. 28077701; Section 4, n. 29584 of 09/22/2020, F.lli Cambria s.p.a., Rv. 27966001); - in the case in question, the violation of the rules on accident prevention appears to have persisted over time.