What is UART
The Union of Workers’ Compensation Insurers (UART) is a private-law sectoral chamber headquartered in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. It brings together workers’ compensation insurers authorized to operate within the Argentine system and defines itself on its website as the country’s Workers’ Compensation Insurers Association.
As of September 3, 2026, the UART (Union of Workers’ Compensation Insurers) comprises 17 member companies, according to its own website. This figure corresponds to the workers’ compensation insurers that were part of the association at that time, not the total number of entities that have operated in the system throughout history.
Who’s who in the Argentine system: UART, SRT and the ARTs
The Argentine occupational risk system clearly distinguishes three types of actors, which should not be confused with each other.
- Workers’ Compensation Insurance Companies (ARTs). Private entities authorized under Law 24.557 that assume, on behalf of each affiliated employer, the benefits derived from work accidents and occupational diseases.
- The Superintendency of Occupational Risks (SRT). Public body that authorizes, controls and, where appropriate, sanctions the ARTs, and administers the registry and official statistics of the system.
- The UART. A private sectoral chamber that voluntarily groups together a set of associated ARTs to represent their common interests, without the capacity to authorize, control or sanction any insurer.
The UART is therefore not a regulatory body: that function belongs exclusively to the SRT. Nor is it a Workers’ Compensation Insurer (ART): it does not provide benefits to any worker or employer. It is a representative organization of the workers’ compensation insurance sector.
Functions and main lines of work
The UART’s activity is organized around several lines declared by the chamber itself.
- Sectoral representation. It represents its member insurers before public bodies, such as the Superintendency of Occupational Risks and the Ministry of Labor, and before other private entities in the insurance sector.
- Studies and statistics. Promotes the carrying out of studies, research and statistics on the occupational risk system, with special attention to the macroeconomic context and the Argentine labor market.
- Regulatory dissemination. Disseminates among companies and workers the legal obligations of the occupational risk system, including relevant case law on the matter.
- Regulatory impetus. It forwards proposals to the competent bodies for improving the legal framework applicable to the system.
Sectoral statistics: how to read accident rates
One of the most useful contributions of the UART for occupational risk prevention professionals is its regular publication of indicators for the occupational risk system. These indicators allow for tracking the evolution of workplace accidents in Argentina over time and comparing them across different sectors.
Interpreting these statistics correctly requires distinguishing between the absolute number of reported accidents and illnesses, which depends on the size of the insured population, and the accident rates , which put these cases into perspective relative to the total number of workers exposed or the hours worked. Only these rates allow for reasonable comparisons between periods or sectors of different sizes.
The UART is not the only source of these statistics: the Superintendency of Occupational Risks also publishes official system indicators. The chamber, however, provides a sector-specific analysis developed from the perspective of the insurers themselves.
Contribution to safety and health at work
The contribution of the UART to occupational safety and health is indirect and sectoral in nature: it does not manage benefits or develop prevention plans in companies, but it contributes to the availability of technical and statistical information on the functioning of the occupational risk system in Argentina, and to the dissemination of legal obligations among companies and workers.
This representation and study function complements, without replacing, the regulatory role of the SRT and the service provision role of each ART towards its affiliated companies.
Relationship with the ORP International Foundation
The UART contributes the perspective of the Argentine workers’ compensation insurance sector to the ORP International Foundation’s institutional advisory committee. It is the sectoral chamber that brings together the workers’ compensation insurers (ARTs) authorized in the country, headquartered in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Its presence distinguishes its contribution from that of professional associations or public bodies also present on the committee.
Practical application
For a prevention professional working with Argentine accident data, distinguishing between absolute figures and accident rates published by the UART or the SRT avoids erroneous conclusions when comparing sectors or periods with different numbers of exposed workers.
For a company or an ART, understanding that the UART is a representative body and not a control body helps to direct inquiries correctly: issues of authorization, control or sanction correspond to the SRT, while the UART is the appropriate interlocutor for issues of sectoral representation or access to its studies and statistics.
