75 people left for work in the morning and never returned home

DK: Bone-crushing disc cutter and disc cutter, electrocution, exploding hand grenade

More jobs will no longer be required to undergo traditional workplace safety training and occupational health and safety examinations, and from 2025, workplace risk assessments will only have to be carried out every five years instead of every three. Companies are cutting costs, the government is looking the other way, and in the end it is the workers who foot the bill: who pays with their health and who pays with their lives," the Democratic Coalition said in a press release. According to DK, the cornerstone of any successful society is the working man. He or she should be the most valuable, because without him or her there is nothing else: there are no profitable giant corporations, no tax payments and no economic performance.

Trade union confederation: fatal work accidents up by 20 per cent last year

The number of fatal accidents at work rose by twenty percent last year, when 75 people lost their lives, the Hungarian Trade Union Confederation (MSZSZ) said on Monday on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of those injured and killed in workplace accidents.

Number of people killed in accidents at work in Hungary

According to a statement sent to MTI by the organisation, the most dangerous sectors continue to be construction, warehousing, manufacturing and agriculture, with most fatal accidents affecting workers aged 45-64.

Safety at work is not a luxury, but a fundamental right, said Róbert Zlati. Despite the fact that 20 per cent more people died at work last year than in 2023, the government still does not take accident prevention seriously enough, and there are few and ineffective labour inspections.

Number of people killed or injured in accidents at work

He pointed out that in 2024-2025, there were changes in the legislation on occupational safety and health, which made the voice of trade unions, including the Confederation of the Workers' Confederation of the European Trade Unions (MESUC), heard.

These included, among others, a dangerous relaxation whereby a general written OSH "education" was sufficient instead of the traditional one for certain jobs and the compulsory medical fitness - occupational health - examination was also abolished.

In addition, in some cases, doctors are being replaced by others with other medical qualifications out of necessity due to staff shortages,

he pointed out.

He stressed that from 1 January this year, the workplace risk assessment will be carried out every 5 years instead of 3, which, in their view, also does not serve better occupational safety. These relaxations could even cost the health and lives of some people

.

- said Róbert Zlati.

The President considers the increase in the amount of fines and the tightening of official controls as part of the 2024-2027 OSH policy to be a positive change, but stressed that there is a clear need for more and more effective preventive measures, official controls and more financially appreciated and recognised experts in the field of OSH.

Viktória Zöld-Nagy: Employment and unemployment are steadily rising and falling in Hungary

Employment and unemployment are steadily rising and falling in Hungary, which also poses a challenge to the field of occupational safety and health, which is part of employment policy, as the rising number of workers must be accompanied by the need to preserve the occupational health and safety conditions that existed before, said Viktória Zöld-Nagy, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of National Economy, in Budapest on Monday.

At the conference entitled Aspects of the circular economy on occupational safety and health, organised by the EU-OSHA National Focal Point of the Occupational Safety and Health Directorate of the Ministry of National Economy, the Deputy State Secretary for Labour Market, Occupational Safety and Health and Employment Supervision also mentioned the green and digital transition among the challenges affecting occupational safety and health, the latter including robotics and artificial intelligence.

He added that the government can help workers, employers and OSH professionals by creating a National OSH Policy. This document, covering the period 2024-2027, is aligned with the EU strategy on occupational safety and health.

He added that two major EU programmes are expected to be published in the near future, aiming to raise the level of occupational safety and health and to improve safety conditions at work. One of the programmes will directly support SMEs to purchase equipment to improve occupational safety in their businesses, over and above their legal obligations.

He referred to the voluntary database of OSH professionals created last year, indicating that it was important for them to be able to perform their duties to the highest possible standard, and that free training was therefore being provided for them this year.

The training was held for the first time in Budapest, but throughout the year there will be a day in each county where OSH specialists will be trained by colleagues from the government office.

Viktória Zöld-Nagy also pointed out that the number of accidents at work has decreased overall this year, including a decrease in the number of accidents that took more than three days to heal or resulted in disfigurement, while the number of fatal accidents at work has increased.

The deputy state secretary said that on 28 April, Hungary will also commemorate the World Day of the Dead and Disabled in Workplace Accidents.

In connection with this, he asked the conference participants, workers, employers and occupational safety professionals to "do their work on this day and on all other days with a view to minimising the number of work accidents, and especially fatal accidents, in Hungary"

Peter Nesztinger, head of the Labour Protection Management Department of the Ministry of National Economy, said that according to the work accident reports received and registered until the beginning of January 2025, there were 20,240 work accidents in Hungary last year that took more than three working days to heal and 161 serious work accidents, of which 75 were fatal.

In an analysis of the 75 fatal work accidents, he pointed out that the main causes of accidents include falling from height, electrocution and lack of technical knowledge. And a breakdown by sector showed that most fatal workplace accidents occurred in construction, transport, storage, post, telecommunications, manufacturing and agriculture.

The head of the department said that in 2024, 417 OSH and 115 administrative fines were imposed, totalling more than HUF 533 million and more than HUF 9.6 million respectively.

The conference included a candle-lighting ceremony and a minute's silence to pay tribute to those who have died or been disabled in workplace accidents.

Sándor Csomba told what the OSH authority is paying special attention to

MTI

Photo: freepik