CITUB  National secretary for Health and safety at work and Ecology, Aleksandar Shopov, has sent the following report and photographs describing their 28 April activities.
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As every year, on April 28th, CITUB and social partners paid tribute to the memory of those who died by submit flowers and wreaths in front of the memorial plaque placed next to the headquarters of CITUB in Sofia, and a minute of silence.

In memory of the workers who died in accidents, lighted candles in the shape of the sad number 84 were arranged next to the plaque, which is the number of workers who died in Bulgaria in 2022.

The Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy Prof. Dr. Emil Mingov and the Director of the IA “Main Labor Inspection” Ekaterina Asenova, representatives of the National Institute of Social Sciences, participated in the honour of the day.

CITUB President Plamen Dimitrov recalled that last year the International Labor Conference accepted that safe and healthy working conditions are a basic human right for every worker. This is the first expansion of basic human rights in a quarter of a century.

In Bulgaria, there is a lack of systematic data for monitoring workers exposed to asbestos, the president of CITUB pointed out. The majority of workers at risk carry out activities of demolition, reconstruction or rehabilitation, maintenance of buildings in which there may be asbestos. In 2020, only one occupational disease related to exposure to this substance was recognized in Bulgaria.

To help in the fight against asbestos and other hazardous chemical substances, the CITUB has launched a campaign “Stop Cancer in the Workplace”, which aims to encourage employers and workers to implement more effective measures to prevent cancer in the workplace.

According to the National Center for Public Health and Analysis, more than 30,000 new cases of cancer are registered every year. A number of studies show that between 5 and 8% of these are workplace-related. If we assume that only 5% of the total cancer cases are related to the profession, this means that at least 1,500 Bulgarian workers have contracted cancer related to the workplace.

After the submitting of flowers, CITUB also presented its annual awards for 2022, with which it distinguishes employers who have achieved good results in ensuring healthy and safe working conditions.