When it was introduced in 2019, the accident insurance bonus-malus system had just one aim: to make employers more responsible for accidents at work. Five years on, the parliamentary response from the Minister for Health and Social Security, Martine Deprez, provides an initial assessment of the figures. And the results are rather encouraging.

In 2024, 94.4% of the 78,337 contributors recorded no attributable accidents at work and therefore benefited from a 15% bonus on their contribution rate. Only 2% suffered a malus and 3.6% remained in the neutral zone. The basic accident insurance rate, set at 0.7% in 2025, therefore translates in practice into an effective rate varying between 0.595% for the most exemplary companies and 1.05% for those accumulating claims.

The Minister points out that this improvement is not due solely to fear of the malus. It can also be explained by structural changes in the economy: the gradual tertiarisation of activities, the rise of teleworking and a better culture of prevention have all contributed to reducing the frequency and severity of accidents. Since 2011, the single contribution rate has thus been reduced from 1.15% to 0.70%, a steady decline favoured by the 2010 reform which had merged the former agricultural and industrial sections.

The system, defined by Article 158 of the Social Security Code, is based on a simple principle: each contributor is assigned an individual factor, ranging from 0.85 (15% bonus) to 1.5 (50% malus), depending on the number and cost of accidents recorded over a 12-month observation period. Companies with no accidents receive the maximum bonus, while those with a high accident rate are penalised.

The disparities between sectors remain marked, however. The tertiary sector and the self-employed are the best performers: 99% of companies in class 6 (financial activities, IT, services and media) and 99.3% of the self-employed (class 15) reported no accidents in 2024. Conversely, high-risk sectors such as temporary work, construction, roofing and municipal services remain more exposed. Temporary work, for example, has only 20% of contributors in bonus, while 28% suffer a malus.

By reforming the financing of accident insurance, Luxembourg has also reintroduced a form of solidarity between branches: the single basic rate applies to all companies, but the bonus-malus factor introduces a dimension of individual responsibility. "The companies with the highest risks were not necessarily the best performers", the minister recalls, stressing that the reform was also aimed at administrative simplification and transparency.