Fatal work accident in Dornbirn: Colleague of plates crushed!

Fatal work accident in Dornbirn: Colleague of plates crushed!

Dornbirn, Österreich - On May 19, 2025, a tragic accident occurred in Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, in which a 44-year-old worker had a fatal accident. The incident occurred on a commercial area, while the man carried out sorted activities with heavy natural stone slabs. Like 5min.at suddenly loosen up and falling for the worker who was then squeezed.

The man's colleagues reacted quickly and raised the heavy plates to free him. Despite the immediately initiated resuscitation measures by the rescue workers and the emergency doctor, they were unfortunately unsuccessful. The police have investigated, but has so far not been able to find any evidence of external debt. In addition, the labor inspectorate has initiated investigations into the case.

duties of the employer and accident statistics

Accidents at the workplace are not only tragic, but also raise questions about safety -related standards. According to work inspection.gv.at , employers are legally obliged to report serious and fatal work accidents immediately to the labor inspectorate or the police. Other obligations include the report to the accident insurance institution, the management of records and the creation of reports and adjustments to the risk assessments.

The accident statistics in Austria show that progress in accident prevention has been made in recent years. The number of accidents of work fell from 103,487 in 2004 to 88,275 in 2017, which corresponds to a reduction of around 15 %. This improvement is due to increased awareness of security culture and better safety regulations.

background to work accidents in the EU

The incident in Dornbirn is part of a major problem that can be observed across Europe. Every year, almost 5,500 people die in the EU in the event of work accidents, which leads to direct insurance costs of around 20 billion euros, so Work inspection.gv.at . In addition, an estimated 149 million working days are lost due to accidents at work, which has significant economic consequences.

A large part of the accidents could have been prevented by suitable operational measures. Inadequate work preparation, time pressure and organizational defects are among the most common causes. The analysis of accidents of work shows that there are often accidents and a lack of information about safety regulations.

The fatal accident in Dornbirn warns companies and employees to take the importance of occupational safety seriously and to continuously improve to prevent further tragic incidents.