On February 20, the Slovak Cabinet approved a policy paper on occupational safety and protection for the period from 2008 to 2012 that sets a goal of reducing occupational injuries by 25 percent compared with 2006, the SITA newswire wrote.
"If the number of workers remains stable, this would mean a decrease in the number of occupational injuries from 13,826 in 2006 to 10,373 in 2012, which would translate as a drop by more than 3,400," the Labour Ministry states in its material.
In order to improve working conditions, including occupational safety and protection of health at the work place, employers must increase their efforts and take more effective measures chiefly in fields with a higher incidence of accidents.
"Inspection will be carried out at least in one-third of newly-established firms up to one year from their founding," reads the ministry's material.
The ministry's intention is to increase the proportion of time that labour inspections spend on occupational safety in favour of preventive activities that should constitute at least 70 percent of total labour inspections.
From the point of view of occupational injuries, extraction of raw materials, the farm sector, forestry, the building industry and industrial manufacturing are the most risky sectors in Slovakia. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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