The trade union organizations UGT and CCOO have joined forces to propose a set of ten measures aimed at reversing the worrying situation of workplace accidents in Huelva. Francisco Gutiérrez, general secretary of UGT Huelva, described the current data as “totally unacceptable” and emphasized the existence of concrete proposals to change this reality. He stressed that many accidents and occupational diseases are preventable if occupational risk prevention regulations are correctly applied.
“"The data is totally unacceptable, and we have concrete proposals to change it."
Among the proposals in the decalogue is the creation of the figure of the territorial prevention delegate, to ensure effective prevention in companies without union representation. It also proposes the implementation of an Andalusian System for the Declaration of Occupational Diseases to prevent work-related pathologies from being classified as common illnesses, and the establishment of a Preventive Quality Monitoring and Control Program to audit company prevention and its outsourcing.
The plan also includes a Comprehensive Plan for the Improvement of Occupational Mental Health, thorough investigation of all fatal and serious accidents, safe and sustainable mobility plans, continuous training in risk prevention, and the strengthening of the Andalusian institutional system for occupational risk prevention. Gutiérrez warned that Huelva is not managing to reduce accidents, which are on an upward trend, with “20 accidents per working day” recorded in 2025.
The province of Huelva holds the highest accident rate in Andalusia, with 2,935.7 accidents per hundred thousand workers, a figure that exceeds the regional average by almost 8%. In 2025, seven people lost their lives in workplace accidents in the province, with Huelva being the first Andalusian province with female mortality in this area, with two women from Huelva among the victims. In the first months of 2026, four fatalities have already been recorded.
Although the services sector leads in the number of accidents, construction and industry show the highest incidence rates. Agriculture, historically penalized, accounted for 1,700 accidents in 2025, with a 133% increase in serious accidents during the first half of that year. Construction recorded 893 accidents, including one fatal and seven serious. Furthermore, it is estimated that 98% of occupational diseases in Huelva remain invisible, with only 50 cases reported in 2024, 26% less than in 2023.
Forty percent of non-traumatic fatal accidents during working hours are caused by heart attacks and strokes, suggesting a hidden problem linked to psychosocial factors such as high work rhythms, exhausting shifts, and precariousness. For her part, María Julia Perea, general secretary of CCOO Huelva, demanded an end to “corporate impunity,” stating that non-compliance with prevention measures must be costly for companies. She denounced that sanction records from the Labor Inspectorate expire or prescribe due to the lack of adequate personnel in the Junta de Andalucía for their execution.
