Last year, the most violations in the field of VDI supervision were found in the construction sector

Last year, the largest number of violations under the supervision of the State Labor Inspection (VDI) were detected in the construction sector, making up 28% of the total number of violations, or 1430 violations, VDI director Renārs Lūsis said on Thursday at the annual Construction Day conference.

According to the total number of violations, the construction industry in 2023 was followed by the manufacturing industry, where VDI found 915 violations, as well as trade – with 826 violations.

At the same time, the head of the VDI stated that, in total, the VDI conducted 2,391 inspections in the construction sector last year, which is the largest number of inspections among the sectors, accounting for 23%.

Lūsis pointed out that construction is among the sectors where one of the largest number of accidents at work was registered – in 2023, they were 9% of the total number of accidents and 17% of all serious and fatal accidents. The industry ranks fourth in terms of the total number of accidents.

In total, last year VDI registered 201 accidents in the construction sector, of which 36 accidents are considered serious, while another four – fatal. As Lūsis listed, the accidents in which people died in the construction industry last year include falling through an uncovered attic hatch, health deterioration during the performance of work duties, falling from scaffolding, and in one case an excavator ran over an employee. On the other hand, falling from a height dominates among serious accidents.

Meanwhile, in terms of total number of accidents last year, the manufacturing industry ranked first with 678 accidents, of which 49 were serious and three were fatal, followed by the transport and storage sector with 320 accidents, of which 32 were serious, also the trade sector with 281 accidents , where one of them was fatal.

Also, the director of the VDI said that last year the largest amount of unregistered workers was discovered in the construction industry, namely 30% of the total number of unregistered employed persons detected by the VDI. In total, in 2023, VDI found 318 unregistered workers in the construction industry.

As Lūsis pointed out, last year VDI was forced to stop works or issue a warning about stopping them in 51 construction sites.