Guide to workplace accidents in Romania: the legal definition (Law 319/2006), how events are classified, reporting to the ITM, the investigation, indemnities due and penalties.
Translated from Romanian. This article covers Romanian labour and tax law; the Romanian version is canonical and is updated first.
A workplace accident triggers, within a few hours, a set of obligations that few companies have prepared in advance. And mistakes made in the first moments — a late notification, a superficial investigation — turn into fines and, in serious cases, into criminal liability. Here is what you need to know before it happens.
The main framework is Legea 319/2006 (Law 319/2006) on occupational health and safety, supplemented by Legea 346/2002 (Law 346/2002) on insurance for accidents at work and occupational diseases.
A workplace accident is the violent injury of the body or acute occupational poisoning, occurring during the work process or in the performance of work duties, and causing:
The 3-day threshold is what separates a workplace accident from a minor event. Below that threshold we are dealing with a minor accident — which is recorded, but does not trigger the entire procedure.
Important: situations such as an accident occurring on the normal route between home and the workplace are also treated as workplace accidents, under the conditions laid down by law.
The last category is the one most often ignored: an incident without victims still has to be reported.
The employer is required to report the event immediately to:
There is no “reasonable” deadline — the law uses the phrase de îndată (immediately, without delay). Late reporting is itself an administrative offence, separate from the act that caused the accident.
The investigation ends with a file establishing the circumstances, the causes and the persons responsible, and with a proces-verbal (an official written report). The documents are kept, and the event is entered in the company’s own records.
Until the investigation is complete, the accident site may not be altered, except to rescue people or prevent further accidents — and if it is altered, the initial state must be documented.
A workplace accident carries a more favourable insurance regime than ordinary illness:
One practically important detail: for sick leave granted for a workplace accident, the unpaid first-day rule does not apply and CASS (the health contribution) is not withheld — the corresponding codes are exempt.
Prevention, not reaction, is what inspectors check:
A missing fitness-for-work certificate, or missing SSM training, for an employee involved in an accident radically changes the employer’s position.
Breaches of occupational health and safety obligations are sanctioned as administrative offences, with fines that, for acts relating to the reporting and investigation of events, usually fall in the range of 5,000–10,000 lei. The amounts differ by type of act and are updated over time — check the text in force.
Where the failure to take safety measures endangers the life or health of workers, the act may constitute a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment.
From how many days of incapacity does it count as a workplace accident? From 3 calendar days of temporary incapacity for work. Below that threshold it is a minor accident, which is recorded but does not trigger the entire procedure.
How quickly must the accident be reported? Immediately, to the territorial labour inspectorate and to the insurer (and to the criminal investigation bodies in serious cases). A delay is itself an administrative offence.
Who investigates the accident? The employer, for accidents with temporary incapacity. The territorial labour inspectorate, for fatal or collective accidents and those resulting in invalidity.
Who pays the indemnity for a workplace accident? It is borne by the insurance fund for accidents at work, not by the employer, and amounts to 80% of the calculation base (100% in the emergency situations provided by law).
Does an incident without victims have to be reported? Yes. A dangerous incident — an explosion, fire or breakdown that could have caused injuries — must be reported and investigated even if nobody was hurt.
See also occupational medicine and the fitness-for-work certificate and labour inspections in 2026.
What matters in an inspection after an accident are the documents that should have existed beforehand: a valid fitness-for-work certificate, a signed SSM training record, proof that the equipment was handed over. Workly keeps these documents in each employee’s digital file, with alerts before expiry for fitness-for-work certificates and periodic checks — so that an accident does not find the company with expired documents.
The handover of protective equipment is recorded in the assets module, with a history per employee and date. Time records show exactly who was present, in what interval and at which location at the moment of the event — information you would otherwise reconstruct from memory. And the documents export immediately for the investigation file.
Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. Not legal advice. The procedure following a workplace accident is complex and carries consequences including criminal ones — contact an SSM specialist and the competent authorities immediately when an event occurs.
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