Background information

The Protocol for the protection of workers in the audiovisual sector has been signed on 27 May 2020 by the five largest employers' association in the sector (ANICA, APA, APE, CNA Cinema e Audiovisivo, and Confartigianato Cineaudiovisivo) and by the three largest trade unions in the sector (SLC-CGIL, FISTEL-CISL, and UILCOM-UIL).

It aims to set a specific common regulatory framework for the re-opening of the activities in the audiovisual industry, as a way to ensure the health and safety of all the workers in the sector. The protocol is not legally binding but the organisations which have not signed the agreement. The protocol sets out the necessary prevention and protection measures in each of the specific environments / phases of work/tasks as required by the “Shared protocol for regulating measures for contrast and the containment of the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the workplace" signed by the Government and trade unions confederations on 24 April 2020.

Content of measure

The Protocol provides a detailed framework concerning the behaviour, the responsibilities, the procedures to be adopted, the tools to be used to avoid the possibility of contagion from COVID-19 in the phase of restarting of the production, especially on sets.

In particular, is divided into two sections, with reference to the two macro-types of work environments typical of the audio-visual industry:

• Production offices/support activities to the preparation of production
• Set / crew / actors and others

For each set of work environments, ad hoc rules are defined in relation to the following aspects:

• General hygienic rules to follow
• The use of the individual protective devices
• Rule for using and sanitising the working spaces both indoor and outdoor
• Rule for using and sanitising the common spaces and the canteens
• Treatments and procedures in case of individual symptomatology and/or COVID-19 positivity
• Regulation for the access of external people
• Rules for the transportation of goods and people

A common protocol concerns the compulsory introduction of new figures in each workplace responsible for the monitoring of health and safety. COVID-19-related online training is compulsory for the personnel before returning to work.

Use of measure

The protocol established a set of rules that the whole personnel and all the companies in the audiovisual industry have to comply with. Around 60,000 workers are involved in the country.

Contents

• Health and safety

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Trade unions Employers' organisations	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Direct consultation outside a formal body	Direct consultation outside a formal body

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Sectoral or branch level

Involvement

Social partners' involvement in designing, negotiating, implementing and monitoring the protocol was based on a voluntarist agreement between the parties involved. The organisations, the most representative in the sector and which sign the main national collective agreements in the industry, decided to define a sector-specific protocol, starting from the general tripartite one signed at the national level. The small trade unions and companies in the sector, not representative, have not been involved.

Views and reactions

The trade unions for workers and artists in the sector, together with the audiovisual production companies and authors have found a wide convergence on this text concerning the health and safety protocol for all phases of the processing of a work, from offices to the set.

The document is the result of an intense work of confrontation and negotiation and it represents the synthesis of the proposals that emerged from the various categories, in the wake of what was already established in the health and safety protocol signed on 24 April 2020 by the government and by the social partners at national level, and the current regulations on safety at work.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 24 September 2020: SLC-CGIL website (www.slc-cgil.it)