28/04/2021 (Agence Europe) – The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) was highly critical on Wednesday 28 April of the drastic fall in the number of labour inspections carried out over the last decade. According to this research, workplace safety inspections have been reduced by a fifth since 2010, from 2.2 million annual visits to 1.7 million. The largest reductions in the number of inspections since 2010 have been recorded in Portugal (-55%), Malta (-55%), Cyprus (-38%), Romania (-37%) and Croatia (-35%). More than a third of member states no longer comply with International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards, which call for one labour inspector per 10,000 workers, according to the Confederation. The significant reduction in labour inspections over the past decade has made the most vulnerable workers (women, migrants) more exposed during the Covid-19 pandemic, say the unions. For ILO figures: https://bit.ly/3nuZACj (PH)