We know that there are many more industrial accidents in Bulgaria, but they are not declared . This is not the way we will actually reduce them, said Ognyan Atanasov, vice-president of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB), in an interview with BTA.
Since 2003, April 28 has been celebrated as the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. As the goal is to attract the attention of the international community to create healthy and safe working conditions, develop national policies and an inspection system for compliance with the legislation on safety and health at work, shows a reference of the department “Information“ of BTA. Since 1996, on the initiative of the International Confederation of Trade Unions, this date has also been marked as the International Day of Remembrance for those killed and injured in occupational accidents and occupational diseases, the reference also states.
Atanasov urged the victims to contact the relevant authorities in cases of occupational accidents. Our fight is for people to know their rights and not to give up on investigating such accidents, said the vice president of the KNSB.
„There is a special order, a special regulation for the investigation of work accidents, in which representatives of the employer, people who deal with safe working conditions, the trade union organization, if there is one, are invited as witnesses. Within three days, a protocol is drawn up, which is given to the National Insurance Institute (NII). The NOI carries out an additional investigation of the work accident and on the basis of this the person receives his benefits. If the promises do not suit him, he has the right to file a lawsuit. If he cannot, his family and relatives can, up to one year after the work accident, also file a lawsuit and receive higher compensation accordingly. You always receive higher compensation, said Atanasov and continued: For example, if they give you BGN 700 in compensation for a broken wrist, if you file a lawsuit you will receive at least five thousand BGN, because with this BGN 700 you cannot even cover your examinations and the treatment of the broken wrist“.
There are a number of studies showing that for an average serious occupational accident to happen 400 times, there is a risk of it happening beforehand. If we don't pay attention that it could happen and we don't take measures, it always happens. This is the prevention, to prevent it from happening, pointed out Atanasov.
That's why we want every enterprise to have a risk assessment for every single position, every single workplace, if necessary for every single person and every single worker to be familiar with it, to know what they should not do, what they can does, how to protect oneself in the workplace, who to contact if there is a problem, what are the measures if an occupational accident occurs. To know what the procedure is that must be carried out, Atanasov explained.
Responsibility for compliance with safe and healthy working conditions lies with the employer. If a worker does not comply with what the employer has ordered in a risk assessment, in regulatory documents, he has the right to punish him with a reprimand, warning, even dismissal, he said, adding that the worker also has a duty to protect his health and that of his colleagues. The worker can refuse work if it is dangerous for his health, for his life.
Atanasov pointed out that in the last few years the platforms and the working conditions of the platform workers have also been the subject of research. There is already a Directive for platform workers, which includes safe and healthy working conditions, he said.
This year, the global trade union community is drawing attention to the need for action to address climate risks for workers, said Ognyan Atanasov.
When it comes to working outside, for example road construction workers and construction workers who, unfortunately, work in extremely high temperatures, we still don't have a regulation for working outdoors, he added. And for the workers working in closed rooms, we have microclimate regulations there. There are other requirements for ergonomics in the workplace, which are well mentioned in our regulations, but the problem remains how this regulation is implemented, because in many of the offices and enterprises the temperatures are unbearable, Atanasov pointed out.
He also paid attention to occupational diseases, those that a person develops when exercising a certain work activity under certain working conditions.
In Bulgaria, no more than 10-12 occupational diseases are proven annually, which is absolutely unreal, Atanasov pointed out.
We've done research on people's musculoskeletal health and it's tragic. In fields such as health care, education, more than 50% of people complain that they have musculoskeletal problems. Nobody knows how many people get cancer as a result of having previously worked with asbestos, for example. There is only one proven cancer for 2021 as a result of the work, which is again unrealistic, said the vice president of the CNSB.
„It is high time UMBAL “Saint Ivan Rilski“ in Sofia to once again become a hospital for occupational diseases. Now there is only a small unit of it left that deals with these diseases”, pointed out Ognyan Atanasov.
We insist that a special directive on psychosocial risks at work be prepared at the European level, because to a large extent they are the cause of a number of other diseases, including musculoskeletal ones, said Atanasov.
In 2022, the International Labor Organization declared the right to health and safety at work as a basic human right. Based on this, from now on we have to change our legislation in the direction of stronger and better protection of people at their workplace, said the vice-president of KNSB and added: It is not normal to go to work to provide for the family you and come home with some accident or not come home.