Medex, the medical expertise service of the Federal Public Service (FPS) Public Health in Brussels, Belgium, has published a new infographic with the key figures on workplace accidents in the Belgian public sector in 2025. Medex assesses, among other things, the medical consequences of workplace accidents among government employees and monitors the work incapacity of civil servants. The new infographic maps the trend in accidents, the most common injuries, temporary and permanent work incapacity, and the related medical costs, reports the Belgian prevention association Prebes, based on information from the FPS Public Health.
Over 41,000 reports in 2025
For 2025, 41,842 workplace accident reports were registered in the public sector. More than one in four of those accidents happened on the way to or from work. Under Belgian workplace accident legislation, such commuting accidents count as workplace accidents, which is why they are also included in the Medex figures. The share of this type of accident has risen by 17 percent since 2016, according to the infographic. According to the report, the figures help to better map risks, form an important basis for prevention, and support the correct medical follow-up of civil servants who suffer a workplace accident.
14.8 million euros in medical costs
Besides the numbers and the nature of the injuries, the infographic also shows the financial impact. Medex paid out a total of 14.8 million euros in medical costs in workplace accident cases. The report does not mention other financial items, such as compensation for loss of income. According to Prebes, the figures illustrate the impact of workplace accidents on both employees and organisations. The report does not give a detailed breakdown by government sector or a multi-year trend of the accident figures themselves; for that, it refers to the full infographic on the website of the FPS Public Health.
Context
According to the most recent Eurostat figures, for 2024, the European Union recorded around 2.78 million non-fatal workplace accidents involving at least four full calendar days of absence, 1.5 percent fewer than in 2023. The number of fatal workplace accidents rose by 45 to 3,367. Per 100,000 people in employment, that amounted to 1,359 non-fatal and 1.65 fatal accidents. Almost a quarter (23.0 percent) of fatal accidents occurred in construction, followed by transport and storage (15.9 percent). The figures are not directly comparable with those of Medex: the European statistics exclude accidents on the way between home and work, while in Belgium these account for more than a quarter of reports in the public sector.
Monitoring workplace accidents among government employees is not unique to Belgium: elsewhere in Europe too, national authorities systematically keep such figures, as a basis for prevention policy and for the medical follow-up of civil servants who suffer an accident. They are also included in the European statistics: according to Eurostat, the Belgian figures in the European statistics have included accidents in the public sector since the data for 2014.
Source: Nieuwe Medex-infografiek brengt arbeidsongevallen in de publieke sector in kaart, 8 October 2026
Additional research: Eurostat, Accidents at work statistics, data from September 2026
