Work accidents in Greece are set to hit new record: 142 dead and 215 seriously injured in 2025. One worker per day does not return home. On the part of the government there is silence, as if the problem does not exist.
Are laborers’ deaths the new normal and we got used to it?
Death continues to reap unabated in the workplace with yet another work accident, in Alevrada, Amfilochia today, August 19. Victim is a 50-year-old machine operator, joining the long list of 142 dead workers for 2025.
According to local e-maistros.gr, the worker was performing duties on the second shift, operating a road roller near the dam under construction. Under circumstances that are still unclear, the heavy machine overturned and crushed him, trapping him under it. Forces from the Amfilochia Fire Department immediately rushed to the scene with special equipment with the aim to get him out of the deadly trap. The worker, – an experienced and hardworking man, as his colleagues described him – had no chances to survive.
The exact causes of the accident are being investigated, while it is not ruled out that a further investigation into the safety measures at the construction site will be ordered.
One worker per day does not return home
At least one person per day does not return home and loses his life, with the construction and agricultural sectors being the “champions” in deadly work accidents, according to the ongoing and independent research of the Federation of Technical Workers’ Associations Greek Enterprises (OSETEE).
From 1/1/2025 until today, August 19 (231st day of the year), 142 workers have been killed and 215 have been seriously injured. The fact that throughout 2024, a total of 149 deaths and 232 serious injuries were recorded (source: OSETEE) is shocking, which means that we are heading towards a new bloody record for 2025 that is causing fear in the world of work.
These awful death statistics are attributed to the zero checks of the understaffed SEPE (now the Independent Labor Inspection Authority) with the Prime Minister and the Labor Minister do not spare a word or even mention somewhere, somehow on these daily tragedies.
Greek summer with 51 dead and 58 seriously injured
Characteristic of the extent of the phenomenon of deadly work accidents and serious injuries is that from June 1 to today, 51 dead workers and 58 serious injuries have been recorded by the OSETEE:
In June: 24 work accidents and 25 serious injuries
In July: 17 accidents and 33 serious injuries
In August until 19th: 10 worker deaths were recorded, mainly in the construction sector, where Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issues are apparently irrelevant.
At the same time, the announcements of the Independent Labor Inspection Authority to deploy drones in its inspections are causing concern, when at the same time all the Aegean islands and western Attica fall under the jurisdiction of the Health and Safety at Work Department of SEPE, based in Piraeus.
How, when and with whom these inspections will be carried out are being questioned by unions and labor centers, which in every accident highlight the tragic under-staffing of the Authority.
The alarm bell is ringing once again, warned the president of OSETEE and vice-president of the European Organization for Safety and Health at Work, Andreas Stoimenides speaking to documentonews.gr.
“From our ongoing research we found out that many accidents occur in technical projects and in large ones, during the summer, which now makes the construction sector a negative protagonist beyond wage issues and in OH&S issues. The victims are , laborers and operators of project machinery. It is confirmed that preventive controls and the use of drones proposed by us remain summer fiction. The issuance of a ministerial decision on thermal stress remains imperative and timely. We call on manufacturers to organize the OH&S system of projects and to respect workers in the sector. To resolve the issues of collaboration and co-responsibility between contractors-subcontractors.”
With 134 days left until the end of 2025, the possibility of not only surpassing 2024 in accidents and serious injuries is not just possible, but almost certain, documentonews.gr warns. The scenario of surpassing 200 worker deaths per year in peacetime and in 2025 is terrifying. The criminal indifference of the Mitsotakis government, the employers’ irresponsibility and the frequency of incidents are leading us to become accustomed to death.
