Many people do not receive their mandatory occupational health and safety education, yet they do not want stricter regulations on the subject

6/2024. (II. 8.) NGM decree relaxed the regulations for employers in several aspects from February. Among other things, it is no longer mandatory to hold occupational safety training for office workers or those working from home, instead it is sufficient to provide a general educational topic. However, the difference between the regulations of the jobs is not visible in the data of the leading job portal’s summer survey: 64 percent of those performing manual labor, while only 65 percent of manual workers subject to stricter regulations reported that they had received some kind of workplace safety training. Positive exceptions are those working in public health and social institutions (87%) and public educational institutions (77%).

Among those who received training, occupational safety (93%) and fire protection (91%) were the most frequently mentioned topics, followed by data protection, data management security (40%) and first aid training (29%). In addition, every fifth employee took part in other specialist training (e.g. handling dangerous substances, safe handling of machines).

Low numbers can also be explained by a lack of control. Only 12 percent of the respondents said that they constantly and strictly check compliance with workplace safety regulations at their workplace and that there are consequences if possible errors or deficiencies are found. Another 5 percent reported that the investigation is serious, but there are no retorts for violations. Every fifth place has no control at all.

Meanwhile, three-quarters of the respondents think that there is no need for a more serious inspection. Senior managers would oppose the tightening the most (90%), while the highest proportion of supporters is among freelancers (49%).