site.btaFatal Work Accidents in Bulgaria Reduced by Half over Past Decade

Fatal Work Accidents in Bulgaria Reduced by Half over Past Decade

Sofia, April 24 (BTA) - The number of fatal work accidents in Bulgaria have dropped by almost a half over the past decade, said here on Monday caretaker Labour and Social Policy Minister Galab Donev. He took part in the opening of the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour's week-long campaign to mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work - April 28.

Donev noted that a total of 71 fatal work accidents were registered in Bulgaria in 2016, while 17 occurred on the way to or from work. Work accidents have decreased by over 1,300 in recent years, totalling 2,257 in 2016. According to Donev, the statistics are nevertheless still grim, which shows to prove that the Government, employers and trade unions are obliged to work together and give priority to the accident prevention and work safety and health at work.

Work accidents number around two million across the globe each year, while 160 million people get sick annually from occupational diseases, Donev said. A million workers fall victim to work accidents in the world each day. The Minister recalled that there are measures and programmes in Bulgarian companies for improving working conditions, while the relevant fund under the Ministry finances such initiatives each year. Some 80 million leva are allocated under OP Human Resources Development for the Safe Working Conditions scheme.

Head of the Chief Labour Inspectorate (CLI), Roumyana Mihaylova, noted that some 350,000 people die in work accidents each year globally, while around two million die from occupational diseases. According to her, the State is hugely indebted to the prevention of occupational diseases. A CLI project provides for categorizing companies based on the risk level and focusing checks on the high-risk ones by the end of next year.

The participants in the event planted 88 trees in Sofia's South Park, in memory of the 88 people who have died in work accidents in Bulgaria last year.