What is La Segunda ART?
La Segunda ART is a corporation authorized to operate as a workers’ compensation insurer (ART) in Argentina. It is part of the La Segunda Insurance Group, whose parent company is La Segunda Cooperativa Limitada de Seguros Generales, based in Rosario, Santa Fe province.
It is important to distinguish clearly between the parent cooperative, which operates in general insurance, and La Segunda ART, the group’s corporation specifically authorized to manage workers’ compensation benefits. They are legally distinct entities within the same insurance group.
La Segunda began its activity as an ART in 1996, when the system of Law 24,557 on Work Risks came into force in Argentina, which replaced the previous system of civil liability of the employer with a mandatory insurance scheme managed by specialized private entities.
The workers’ compensation system in Argentina
According to Article 26 of Law 24,557, an ART (Workers’ Compensation Insurance Company) is a private entity that must be previously authorized by the Superintendency of Occupational Risks (SRT) to operate within the system. Its sole purpose is to provide the benefits established by law: it assumes, on behalf of the affiliated employer, the in-kind and monetary benefits arising from work-related accidents and occupational diseases.
The system is based on mandatory affiliation: every employer must be affiliated with a Workers’ Compensation Insurance Company (ART) or, in certain cases, self-insure by complying with the requirements established by law. In exchange for the payment of a fee, the ART assumes coverage for the contingencies covered by law and also develops prevention plans in affiliated companies.
Affiliation with a Workers’ Compensation Insurance Company (ART) does not transfer the employer’s obligations regarding occupational health and safety to the company. The employer retains the duty to organize and maintain safe working conditions; the ART provides insurance coverage, assistance, and prevention activities, but does not replace the employer’s primary responsibility.
The control of the system corresponds to the SRT, a public body that authorizes the ARTs, supervises their operation, can sanction them or revoke their authorization, and administers the registry and statistics of the system at the national level.
Origin in Rosario and group structure
The La Segunda Insurance Group originated from La Segunda Cooperativa Limitada de Seguros Generales, a Rosario-based entity that constitutes the group’s historical parent company. La Segunda ART was established as a corporation within that group in 1996 to operate specifically in the workers’ compensation insurance sector.
This origin explains why the operational infrastructure of the ART, particularly that focused on occupational medicine and prevention, has historically been concentrated in Rosario, the city where the group maintains its oldest institutional development.
Functions and benefits as an ART
As a workers’ compensation insurer, La Segunda ART performs the functions that Law 24.557 attributes to this type of entity.
- Benefits in kind. Medical and pharmaceutical assistance, prostheses and orthopedics, and rehabilitation of workers affected by work accidents or occupational diseases.
- Monetary benefits. Economic compensation associated with temporary or permanent work incapacity resulting from the covered contingency.
- Prevention. Development and monitoring of action plans for risk prevention in affiliated companies, adapted to their activity.
- Monitoring compliance. Reporting to the competent authority any breaches of hygiene and safety regulations detected in affiliated companies.
Own infrastructure for occupational medicine and prevention in Rosario
Segunda ART has its own facilities in Rosario dedicated to occupational medicine and prevention, grouped under the name Casa de la Prevención (Prevention Center), which includes an occupational health center. This infrastructure allows it to directly serve the workers of affiliated companies in the region, without relying exclusively on a network of external providers.
Having its own health infrastructure is a differentiating feature within the Argentine occupational risk system, in which most ARTs combine their own providers with third-party networks contracted according to the geographical area.
Contribution to safety and health at work
La Segunda ART’s contribution falls within the legally mandated role of insurance companies: to finance and manage benefits arising from workplace accidents and occupational diseases, and to develop prevention programs in affiliated companies. Having its own occupational health center in Rosario strengthens its capacity to provide healthcare in that region.
This contribution is complementary to, not a substitute for, the preventive management that is the employer’s responsibility. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Company (ART) informs, advises, and, where appropriate, reports non-compliance, but the effective implementation of preventive measures in each workplace remains the responsibility of the affiliated company.
Practical application
For an Argentine company, knowing precisely what the ART covers and what it does not helps to define responsibilities: affiliation resolves the insurance coverage for contingencies under Law 24,557, but does not exempt it from maintaining its own prevention management system or from complying with the hygiene and safety regulations applicable to its activity.
For a prevention professional, understanding the relationship between the ART, the employer, and the SRT allows for correctly placing each actor in the system when managing a contingency, coordinating a prevention plan, or interpreting workplace risk regulations.
