Health and safety at work: the aim is to have 1,700 inspectors in the field
Of the 4,366 inspection staff, only 949 are technicians responsible for carrying out checks on building sites and at the locations where work is carried out. An ongoing recruitment drive is expected to bring in a further 750
Key points
Increase the number of inspectors in the field – the so-called ‘technicians’ – who physically check construction sites and workplaces to assess their conditions in terms of health and safety of workers. This is one of the objectives of the measures introduced in recent years, as part of an overall strengthening of the inspection workforce, which now numbers around 6,000 people, including staff from the Labour Inspectorate, INPS, INAIL and the Carabinieri dedicated to this sector.
As at 31 December 2025, there were 949 technical inspectors employed by the INL to carry out inspections throughout the country. A recruitment drive launched in July 2024 aims to recruit a further 750. Recruitment is no easy task: these are staff with specific skills, starting with a degree in engineering, architecture, chemistry or physics. A total of 4,366 inspectors are currently responsible for workplace safety.
Results of the inspections in 2025
The supervisory activity carried out in 2025 remained broadly stable compared with the previous year, with 157,381 inspection visits, which include workplace inspections and social security and insurance supervision, i.e. checks on companies’ compliance with obligations relating to contributions and insurance for workers.
Inspections relating to workers’ health and safety carried out by the INL, including the Carabinieri, increased by 3.9% compared with 2024 (51,928 inspections in 2025). The increase in inspections – as noted by the INL in its 2025 report on enforcement activities – has led to a rise in confirmed offences : in fact, 89,851 criminal offences relating to health and safety were detected (+7.8% compared with the 83,330 recorded in 2024).
The first few months of 2026
Looking at the first three months of 2026, figures provided to *Il Sole 24 Ore* on Monday by the National Labour Inspectorate reveal that the number of inspections launched stood at almost 37,000, up 3.4% on the same period the previous year, whilst safety violations detected totalled over 24,000, up 29.6% on the first quarter of 2025. Also in the first three months of the year, nearly 4,000 workers were found to be working off the books.
