Since the beginning of the year, there have been 15 fatal accidents in the country directly related to the work process, the director of the Labor Inspection announced

Since the beginning of 2024, as of last night, there have been 15 fatal accidents in the country directly related to the work process, and 22 accidents as a result of heart attacks and strokes. The data is quite frightening. This is what Ekaterina Asenova, the executive director of the Executive Agency (IA) “Main Labor Inspectorate” said in an interview for BTA, after the end of the Regional Conference on the topic “Go home after work! Someone is waiting for you there” of the Agency, which took place at the National Press Club of BTA in Shumen. Asenova recalled that another accident happened in Sofia last night, after a worker stood under a load.
“It is very important for people to know that it is the rules that can save their lives, that of their colleagues, or by following the rules, they can protect their health and quality of life. We all realize, we all know how long it takes to secure a construction site, but let’s clearly realize that today’s compromise with safe work, with unsecured health and safety working conditions tomorrow can cost someone’s life,” he said at the beginning of the Asenova conference.
The regional governor of Shumen Prof. Dobromir Dobrev welcomed the participants in the forum, among whom were labor inspectors, employers, companies in the field of workplace safety, trade unionists and social partners, congratulating its organizers and wishing a fruitful outcome of the discussions.
The reason for the conference is the information campaign held at the beginning of February 2024, on the initiative of the IA “Main Labor Inspectorate”, with the support of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, dedicated to occupational trauma: “Go home after work! Someone is waiting for you there.” The forum grew into the organization of regional conferences in the country, at which the discussion of safe work rules and how important their observance is in order to limit occupational injuries was expanded at the regional level. The initiative is an opportunity to indicate the most common causes leading to accidents, joint actions regarding their prevention and good practices, the conference in Shumen recalled.
“The reason for this campaign is that all of us inspectors, together with employers and social partners, should join our efforts to reduce the levels of occupational injuries and to reach the cherished level of zero occupational injuries. The campaign is being developed in the 28 regional centers of the country. On Monday, we will be in Veliko Tarnovo and Gabrovo, and so on until we do all these initiatives in the other regional centers. We hope for a positive effect,” Asenova also told BTA.
According to her, most often accidents happen in construction or in the places where construction and assembly works are carried out. “What good employers who have provided collective protection and personal protective equipment share is that they have a very hard time getting workers to use it. Very often they say that they are in the way, without realizing that in this way they are compromising their health”, Asenova specified and added that construction has the highest number of occupational injuries, being among the most frequent accidents are falling from a height and being buried by an earth mass.
Owners of construction companies expressed regret that, unlike them, many people who define themselves as masters in various fields of construction and repairs work “on the gray”, do not pay taxes and can be even more difficult to be controlled by labor inspectors.
“According to data from the National Statistical Institute, there are about 2.3 million jobs in Bulgaria, and control is carried out by only 350 inspectors. It is more than clear that we cannot be present at every single workplace and we do our best to direct the focus of our activity to those incorrect employers about whom we have information or who, during a previous control, have found that they allow persons without work permits to work contracts or those that completely neglect their duty to ensure health and safety. We also carry out control in construction and installation works. In general, we are trying to work in this direction – for more employers to start fulfilling their obligations, for more workers to use what is provided by their employers, with the aim of reducing the number of work accidents”, added Asenova for BTA.
A video recording of the conference can be viewed here.