Trade unionists seek tougher penalties for violating workplace security norms

“The number of accidents at work and of persons involved in them has decreased over the last three years, but the observance of the law on health and security at work did not become a norm for the companies,” State Labor Inspector Ion Stavila said at a meeting of the National Commission for Collective Consultations and Negotiations, Info-Prim Neo reports. Last year, the Labor Inspectorate investigated 119 work accidents that resulted in 39 deaths and 103 persons injured. Ion Stavila said there is a discrepancy between the actual number of accidents and the number of reported accidents, stressing that the police often close the reports drawn up by labor inspectors, invoking the lack of proofs. The chairman of the National Employers Confederation of Moldova Leonid Cerescu said there should be implemented new technologies that protect the health and security of the employees, stressing that the role of the state in stimulating this process is very important. Oleg Buzda, the head of the Trade Union Confederation of Moldova, said the mechanism for implementing the law on the health and security at work must be improved, while the penalties for violating it must be toughened up. A number of 38,000 cases of violation of the workplace security norms were identified during the inspections carried out at companies last year.