Faroe Islands plan to strengthen Labour Inspectorate

Kringvarp Føroya reports that the Labour and Fire Inspectorate will be renamed the Labour Inspectorate as emergency preparedness responsibilities are transferred to Vørn. The reorganisation is intended to give the inspectorate more capacity to oversee workplace safety and prevent accidents.

The Labour Inspectorate will focus exclusively on labour market matters and occupational safety. According to Margit Stórá, the plan is to strengthen the institution so it can devote more resources to inspections and preventive work.

About seven inspectors have worked at the Labour and Fire Inspectorate in recent years. Over the past three years, between 800 and 1,000 inspection reports have been prepared annually.

The Faroe Islands also have relatively high fatality figures for workplace accidents. The figures are almost seven times higher than in Iceland and three times higher than in Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

Three people died in workplace accidents in 2025, and another workplace accident claimed a life in May this year.

Stórá said more funding should be allocated to the Labour Inspectorate so it can carry out more inspections and place greater emphasis on prevention and information about workplace safety.

As part of the reorganisation, responsibility for administering the emergency preparedness law will be transferred to Vørn. The employees currently responsible for emergency preparedness at the Labour and Fire Inspectorate will also move to the institution.