Historical Context of the Establishment And Development of the Labor Inspection on in Bosnia And Herzegovina

Abstract

In the paper, the authors examine the historical context of the origin and development of labor inspection in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The periodization is divided into four periods: the period before the First World War, the period of the Kingdom of SHS/Yugoslavia, the period of socialist Yugoslavia (FNRJ and SFRJ), and the contemporary period of labor inspection in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent state. The first period covers the time of Austro-Hungarian rule, starting from 1907 when the Trade Supervision was established by the Order on Trade Supervision. After that, in the newly formed Kingdom of SHS, the state Labor Inspection was established in 1920, and in 1921, the Regulation on Labor Inspection was adopted, followed by the Law on Labor Inspection in 1922. After the Second World War and the establishment of a new socialist government, inspection supervision over the implementation of hygienic and technical safety measures at work, as well as the application of regulations on labor relations and working conditions, began. This led to the passing of the Law on Labor Inspection in 1946. Changes in the concept of labor inspection occurred due to altered socio-political circumstances, such as the introduction of worker self-management, new communal arrangements, and decentralization of state administration, resulting in the passing of the new federal Labor Inspection Act in 1959. Instead of a special law on labor inspection, the status of labor inspection was regulated by the Basic Law on Occupational Safety in 1965.

Following constitutional changes and the strengthening of decentralization in the 1970s, the competence to regulate labor inspection issues was transferred from the federal level to the republic level, and in 1984, the Law on Occupational Safety was adopted in SRBiH, which regulated the issue of labor inspection, among other things. This law was replaced by the new Law on Occupational Safety in 1990. In the modern period, after the independence of BiH, the organization of inspection services is usually regulated by special laws on inspections. Currently, the issue of labor inspections is regulated at 14 levels of government. The aforementioned historical review highlights the continuity and specific development of labor inspection throughout the observed time period.