site.btaAccidents at Work on the Increase

Accidents at work increased in 2023, General Labour Inspectorate (GLI) Executive Director Ekaterina Asenova told reporters in Burgas on Thursday. The Executive Agency registered 440 accidents, including 65 fatal ones. "Some employers deliberately do not provide safe working conditions. There are also cases where workers flout the safety standards," Asenova said.

There is a shortage of inspectors, given the number of enterprises in Bulgaria: over 250,000 micro and small enterprises and 5,300 large ones. There are a total of 2.3 million jobs. What is needed is prevention and both companies and employees should be alerted to bad practices, she said. The General Labour Inspectorate received over 8,000 alerts in 2023. More than 95% of them were about unpaid wages, compensations and overtime, and just 5% were about lack of safety at work.

One in two persons killed in an occupational accident in Bulgaria was working without an employment contract.

Fatal accidents at work occur most often in the construction industry, GLI Chief Inspector Alexander Borisov said. Some accidents are not reported. Most of the 440 accidents registered in 2023 resulted from a fall from a height. The next most frequent accidents resulted from crushing by heavy objects, work with electricity and collapsing earth masses.