6-month report, over 5,300 inspections carried out - Muçaj: Fatal accidents in the workplace decreased by 50%
The State Labor Inspectorate has increased field inspections during the first six months of 2026. From January to June, 5,371 inspections were carried out, covering about 110,000 workplaces. Three out of four inspections were carried out according to the institution's planning, while 25% were unscheduled inspections, initiated after complaints, accidents at work or random checks. About 30% of the entities were inspected for the first time.
"To return to the figures, in the first half of 2026, the Labor Inspectorate has carried out 5371 inspections. We have an increasing number of inspections and in these inspections, about 110,000 workplaces have been part of these inspections. The inspection process has been divided into 75% of the inspections have been part of our plans and 25% of the inspections have been unscheduled or unplanned inspections, which have been carried out due to complaints, accidents or random inspections. About 30% of the inspected entities are entities that have been inspected for the first time, so they have not had a history of inspection in the past and our focus has been on counseling, informing and assessing labor relations, occupational health and safety in these entities."
The problems identified by inspectors are divided between safety conditions and violations of employee rights.
"The focus of the labor inspection is on labor relations and occupational safety and health, where violations are divided into these two groups. Specifically, 40% of the violations identified are related to occupational safety and health. Meanwhile, 40% of the other violations are related to labor relations, mainly to the non-payment of employee salary and insurance obligations, working hours, working time and annual leaves, which have been elements of non-implementation of labor legislation. The remaining part of about 20% of the violations is directly related to issues of informality at work."
During the inspections, 1,432 informal workers were identified, more than in the same period in 2025. Muçaj states that almost all employees found to be completely unregistered were formalized during the inspection process.
"In our inspection practices, 1432 informal workers have been identified, which is an increasing number compared to the same period in 2025. And I wanted to emphasize that this is directly related to the quality of the inspection, to the planning of the inspection and the implementation of the inspection process in the field. Almost 100% of informal workers, i.e. totally unregistered, or black informality as we classify it or say in everyday jargon, have been registered within the inspection process. And this has come thanks to the effective use of an important measure that we have, which is the suspension of activity. So, the moment informal workers are identified, the labor inspectorate has the legal right to suspend this activity until their full formalization."
Occupational safety remains one of the biggest challenges. In six months, around 100 accidents were recorded, a similar level to the previous year. However, the number of fatal accidents has decreased by 50%, to 11 cases.
"The number of accidents at work as a total number is at the same level, so there are about 100 accidents at work registered. But the positive news that I would say is that the number of fatal accidents has decreased by 50%. And the Labor Inspectorate in the first half of the year has registered 11, 11 fatal accidents, where I wanted to stop and emphasize that within these 11 fatal accidents, three of them are accidents that occurred due to natural causes in the workplace and during working hours, and due to the law they are classified or counted as accidents at the workplace. And two fatal accidents are road accidents, which occurred during working hours or during the time of going to and returning from work, and here too due to the law they are classified as such. If I were to stop at the six accidents that are directly related to the workplace. Two of these fatal accidents belong to the mining sector. Two accidents belong to the construction sector, where I am pleased to emphasize that here there is a significant improvement or there is a decrease "There are a significant number of fatal accidents in this sector. And two are accidents that occurred in manufacturing enterprises, which includes heavy industry."
In parallel with the increase in controls, the reaction to entities that do not respect the legislation has also been tightened. In six months, 644 suspension measures and 3,635 warnings have been imposed.
"644 suspensions have been imposed, or 172 more than the day before. 3,635 warnings have been imposed, or 2,200 more than the same period a year ago. So this is a strong tightening of the non-implementation of labor relations or safety and health at work. There is also an increase in fines, where in this six-month period 133 fines have been imposed, about 15% more than the same period a year ago with a value of 41 million and 408 thousand new lek, or 12 million lek more than the same period a year ago."
Data shows that informality, violation of workers' rights and lack of safety conditions continue to be widespread problems in the labor market. Although fatal accidents have been halved, in just six months, six employees lost their lives in events directly related to workplace activity.
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