The Law on Occupational Safety and Health
from 2005 stipulated the employer’s obligation to
insure employees against occupational injuries and
occupational diseases at their own expense. However,
given the fact that this regulation did not provide for
a penal policy in case of non-compliance with this
obligation, employers generally avoided concluding
this type of insurance. Therefore, the new Law on
Occupational Safety and Health from 2023 sets high
fines for violations. However, employers are given
a period of two years (until May 2025) to comply
with this, as well as numerous other changes in the
new regulation. In the paper, the authors analyse the
normative framework that governs this mandatory
insurance, point out problematic wording and possible
improvements, and compare Serbian legislation in
this regard with countries in the region in order to
identify the best model for the protection of employees’
rights. Also, the authors point out obvious omissions
in keeping statistics on work injuries and occupational
diseases in Serbia and the need to regulate the issue of
collective insurance in more detail.
