Injuries

‘Work-related injury’ means any accident occurring due to a “violent cause in the course of work” and resulting in death, bodily harm or illness leading to permanent disability or temporary full disability.

Here, “in the course of work” is meant to include during study and research as well.

Who may be affected:

• University employees
• Students
• Interns
• PhD students
• Specialisation school students

A commuting injury is any accident occurring during a worker’s normal trip: from home to work and back, from a workplace to another, for meals, if no canteen is available.

Who may be affected

• University employees
• Medical specialization students

As soon as an accident occurs, the victim must undergo a medical examination at the nearest Emergency Department. The first steps to take are:

• Immediately inform the employer or competent head of structure who will ensure that the victim goes to the nearest Emergency Department (Pronto Soccorso – PS)
• Go to the Emergency Department for an examination
• Explain how and where the accident occurred to the Emergency Department physician.

After the examination, the Emergency Department physician will issue an initial medical certificate describing the diagnosis and prognosis for the injury. The same physician will forward a copy to INAIL.

At that point:

• Provide a copy of the certificate together with the injury report form (see the Forms section at the bottom of the page) as soon as possible to the competent head of structure (or a delegate/administration office). The certificate can be submitted directly or through a trusted person (written proxy with copy of ID document)
• Retain a copy of the certificate in the name of the person who suffered the injury.

Injuries involving General Administration staff are handled by the General Affairs Office for Executives, Professional Staff and Foreign Language Instructors.

Injuries involving General Administration staff working in the Campuses are managed directly by the Campus Divisions.

All structures have one or more persons in charge of managing work-related injuries and sending the corresponding electronic reports to INAIL. 

Visit Illnesses and injuries on your University Intranet.

Medical specialty students must submit the medical documentation to the Work-Related Injuries Office of the Occupational Medicine O.U. – Prof. Violante.

In addition, medical specialisation school students have insurance coverage for third-party liability and accidents.

More information for medical specialty students

Students must submit the Emergency Department medical documentation to the competent structure (Campus or Department).

Moreover, all students regularly enrolled in a degree programme at the University of Bologna are insured against accidents (except commuting accidents on the way from home to work and back).

More information on insurance

Get in touch with the Campus offices as soon as possible at campusravenna-infortuni@unibo.it, specifying whether you were injured during the course of a learning activity (lecture, exam, study) or an internship, and send all necessary documents via email:

Injury report form, which you can find at the bottom of this page, and Accident insurance claim form, which you can find on the insurance page. 

Leave your contact details so that the offices can easily get in touch.
In the event of extending your leave of absence due to injury, get in touch with the offices again to send them the new medical certificate so that INAIL is notified.
In the event of a commuting injury, the University does not provide insurance coverage. 

A biological injury occurs in the event of contact with blood or other biological material as a result of a puncture or wound with a needle or other sharp object, as well as from splashing or spreading on mucous membranes or damaged skin, as follows:

• Wound or puncture with a contaminated needle or sharp object;
• Contamination of mucous membranes (conjunctival, nasal, oral);
• Contamination of damaged skin (abrasions, cracks, dermatitis, open wounds, etc.).

Punctures and cuts (parenteral exposure): 

• Let the wound bleed for a moment (do not bring the injured part to your mouth);
• Wash the wound thoroughly for about 10 minutes with running water and detergent and/or antiseptic (e.g. povidone-iodine 7.5-10%, chlorhexidine 4%, electrolytic oxidising chlorine 5%).

Skin lesion (damaged skin exposure):

• Wash thoroughly with running water and antiseptic detergent (if available);
• Disinfect with antiseptic (as above).

Conjunctivae, oral mucosa, nasal mucosa (mucous membrane exposure):

• Wash thoroughly with running water, sterile saline or sterile water for 10-15 minutes;
• Do not use detergents or antiseptics.

When the injury is derived from contact with biological material from a known source (e.g. a patient in a dental clinic), it would be appropriate to take a blood sample from the source after completing the informed consent form.

When the injury occurs within a healthcare facility such as S. Orsola Malpighi Hospital or IOR Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, the internal procedure in place at the facility must be followed.

If you have suffered an injury, immediately go to the nearest Emergency Department to:

• Treat the exposed part (if not already done);
• Receive post-exposure prophylaxis (vaccines and/or immunoglobulins), if necessary, and possibly infectious disease counselling (to consider post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV);
• Receive an initial medical certificate for the injury, a copy of which will be forwarded to INAIL. 

Get in touch with Occupational Medicine as soon as possible after the accident:

Via P. Palagi 9, Bologna;
Tel. 051 2084076-77-78-79;
Email: servmedlav.medicinadellavoro@unibo.it

to:

• Submit a copy of the Emergency Department certificate (and of the infectious disease report, if any);
• Have a ‘time-zero’ sample taken by the designated laboratory, if not already done by the Emergency Department;
• Plan post-exposure monitoring (if necessary);
• Consider post-exposure prophylaxis (tetanus and/or hepatitis B vaccination), if not already done at the Emergency Department.

Formally report the accident to the competent head of structure (or a delegate) by completing the injury report form [.docx] and submitting the INAIL certificate issued by the Emergency Department physician.

Please refer to the “What to do in case of an injury” section for information on how to notify, terminate or extend your leave of absence.

The certificate issued by the Emergency Department physician indicates the number of days of absence from work (estimated recovery time, aka prognosis).

If you have not recovered after the end of your leave of absence, you may request an extension. The extension must be certified by the competent INAIL clinic, your general practitioner, a specialist physician or the Emergency Department.

The certificate extending your leave of absence due to injury (‘continuing certificate’) must also be submitted as soon as possible to the same administration office to which the injury was first reported.

After recovery (final certificate), or at the end of your leave of absence as indicated in the medical certificate, you may return to work. 

If, as a result of the injury:

• You have been absent from work for more than 60 days, and an occupational health examination is normally required to perform your tasks, you will have to undergo a ‘return to work examination’ to confirm that you are fit for work in light of any injury-related issues.
• You experience difficulties in performing your tasks, a follow-up visit may be required, even if you have been absent for less than 60 days.
• You experience a relapse after resuming work, under certain circumstances, you may be entitled to go back on leave.

In all these cases, get in touch with Occupational Medicine

• If the estimated recovery time for the injury is at least one day, excluding that of occurrence, notify INAIL within 48 hours of receipt of the medical certificate, for statistical and information purposes only.
• If the estimated recovery time for the injury is more than three days, excluding that of occurrence (also following a medical certificate extending the leave of absence), submit the electronic injury report to INAIL strictly within two days of receipt of the medical certificate.
• If the two-day period expires on a public holiday, submit the report no later than the following business day.
• If the injury has caused or could cause death, submit the report within 24 hours by telegram. In this case, it is recommended that you get in touch with INAIL by telephone to avoid errors in drafting and submitting the report.

Failure to comply with the notification duty may result in a fine of € 548.00 to € 1,972.80.

Missing, late, inaccurate or incomplete reports may result in a fine of € 258.00 to € 7,745.00 (€ 127.00 for missing or incorrect tax identification number). 

 See:

• Guidance for electronic notifications and injury reporting to INAIL (on the University Intranet)
• Instructions to fill in electronic notifications on the INAIL website
• Instructions to fill in electronic injury reports on the INAIL website
• Operating instructions in the event of an illness caused by events attributable to third-party liability (on the University Intranet)

Info and support:

Reports concerning permanent teaching and research staff

Reports concerning fixed-term research staff

Reports concerning professional staff and foreign language instructors and assistants

Presidential Decree 1124/1965; Legislative Decree 165/2001, Article 7, paragraph 6; Legislative Decree 38/2000, Article 12; Rector’s Note Prot. no. 25899 dated 13/09/1995.