Argentina runs a compulsory workplace risk insurance system. Every employer must be covered by an insurer known as an ART, and that cover is often mistaken for a complete answer to workplace injury exposure. It is not.
How the system is structured
Law 24.557 created the risk insurance regime, supervised by the Superintendency of Occupational Risks. Claims begin before administrative medical commissions, which assess incapacity before a matter can reach the courts. Law 27.348 made that administrative stage compulsory.
The insurer covers listed occupational conditions and accidents within the scope of the system. What falls outside that scope, or what results from the employer failing to meet its own safety duties, is a separate exposure that the policy does not absorb.
Where companies are caught out
The documentary record
Risk assessments, delivery of protective equipment against signature, training records with dates and attendees, and the safety plan for the specific activity. In practice, whether a company can produce these is what determines the outcome once a claim goes beyond the insurance system. Companies that have the policies but not the signed records are in a worse position than they believe.
Reporting
Incidents must be reported to the insurer promptly. Late or absent reporting weakens the employer position considerably, and informal handling of a minor injury that later develops into a permanent condition is a recurring pattern in the claims we bring.
Contractors on site
Engaging a contractor does not transfer safety responsibility. Argentine law imposes duties of supervision and, in defined circumstances, joint liability for the obligations of contractors performing work that forms part of the principal activity. Verifying that a contractor has valid cover is a control that is often assumed rather than performed.
Occupational illness
Conditions that develop over time, such as musculoskeletal disorders, hearing loss and respiratory conditions, produce claims years after the exposure. Whether the company can show the working conditions of that period is decided by records that were either kept at the time or were not.
What we review
We look at the operation the way we would if we were preparing a claim against it. That means asking for the evidence rather than the policy: what is signed, what is dated, who attended, what was actually delivered and whether the insurer was told.
The result is a written assessment identifying the gaps that convert an insured incident into an uninsured one, ordered by how likely each is to matter.
To discuss a matter, write to estudio@mirandacalderon.com or see the contact page.