On World Day for Safety and Health at Work, Macedonia gets its numbers. They aren't pretty: in 2025, 132 workplace accidents were registered, and 31 workers lost their lives. Thirty-one families without a father, without a mother, without someone who left for work each day - and didn't come back.

The sector with the most incidents is manufacturing (33 cases), followed by construction (15), and public administration and defense (12). Construction is a particular "black spot" - 54 dead workers in three years. The kind of statistic no one is being held publicly accountable for.

The Macedonian Occupational Safety Association issued a message: "every worker has the right to come home safely, and every employer has a duty to make that happen." Nicely said. Less certain is whether that message will be properly enforced - if the labor inspectorate, which is responsible for every accident, even cares to.

The same week these numbers are being "celebrated," the report singles out the fire at the Puls club in Kočani - 63 dead in a single event, technically not classed as a workplace accident, but still part of the wider picture of a broken safety regime in public spaces.

In parallel, the EU and the ILO are funding a project for a safe workplace in Macedonia through 2028. Three years of work with international support for something the law already requires. Will the numbers change - or will we be counting the same dead at the next World Day for Safety?