Federal Agency for Occupational Risks – Preventing occupational accidents in companies
general assembly on December 1, 2021
The federal government wanted to increase the employers’ financial responsibility for preventing occupational accidents in order to significantly reduce the number of such events. To that end, the Federal Agency for Occupational Risks (Fedris) was assigned two additional prevention tasks: establishing a premium differentiation system and managing the system of ‘disproportionately aggravated risks’ associated to companies. With premium differentiation, insurers had to determine the premium level for occupational accident insurance based on the damage statistics of their clients (i.e. the employers). The Court of Audit found that this task was never fulfilled. According to the system of ‘disproportionately aggravated risks’, companies with a higher risk of occupational accidents pay a supplementary prevention contribution. The Court of Audit found that the potential impact remains very limited. For example, only a small number of companies need to be selected and important high-risk sectors, such as temporary employment or dock work, fall outside the system. In recent years insurers were also unable to sufficiently collect the prevention contribution. The Court of Audit recommends that the competent ministers and administrations evaluate whether the system of ‘disproportionately aggravated risks’ effectively reduces the number of accidents at work. In the meantime, there is room for improvement regarding the management of this system.

- report|document written in French (PDF)1.97 MB
- report|document written in Dutch (PDF)3.03 MB
- summary|document written in French (PDF)88.61 KB
- summary|document written in Dutch (PDF)78.03 KB
- press release|document written in French (PDF)103.59 KB
- press release|document written in Dutch (PDF)111.14 KB
- abstract (PDF)90.41 KB