Georgian Health Minister sums up 5 years of Labour Inspection Department activities

Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze has presented a 5-year report of the Labour Inspection Department of the Ministry of Health, saying 'we have introduced labour safety in Georgia'.

Tikaradze added that as a result of the work of the Labour Inspection Department, safety measures in the workplace have been 'drastically improved'.

Recently, in light of the ongoing pandemic in the world, the role of the Labour Inspection Department has increased sharply. Georgia was one of the first countries to develop recommendations based on the identification of specific threats and risk assessments at the sectoral level. In order to effectively manage the process of economic recovery in the country, the department has developed 33 recommendations in total", Tikaradze said.

About 13,300 inspections have already been carried out across the country to comply with the recommendations set for coronavirus prevention.

The number of inspections carried out by the department in 2015-2019:

• In 2015 - 142 inspections, including 118 carried out within the state programme and 24 for the prevention of forced labour and labour exploitation.
• In 2016 - 287 inspections, including 188 within the state programme and 99 for the prevention of forced labour and labour exploitation.
• In 2017 - 392 inspections, including 279 within the state programme and 113 for the prevention of forced labour and labour exploitation.
• In 2018 - 465 inspections, including 224 within the state programme and 87 for the prevention of forced labour and labour exploitation.
• In 2019 - 1,541 inspections, including 150 within the state programme and 127 for the prevention of forced labour and labour exploitation.

The introduction of labour safety standards in Georgia began in 2015. The Labour Inspection Department was set up at this time.

In March 2018 the Law on Labour Safety was adopted, which expanded and from September 2019, the law applied to all economic activities.