A total of 144 people died in workplace accidents in Turkey in February, the Artı Gerçek news website reported, citing a monthly report by the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).
Those who lost their lives in work-related accidents included six minors, one of whom was below the age of 14.
As usual, construction was the leading sector in fatalities, representing 27 percent of deaths, followed by transportation with 12 percent and mining with 9 percent.
The most frequent causes of death were falling from heights, which accounted for 31 deaths, crushing incidents with 31 and road accidents with 25.
Two major deadly incidents highlighted the issue of workplace safety in February.
On February 13 a landslide at a gold mine in eastern Turkey left nine workers trapped under piles of earth potentially contaminated with cyanide. The workers still have not been found.
A few days later a cargo ship with six crewmembers sank in the Marmara Sea. It was later revealed that the vessel had another accident back in 2021 and was still kept in operation.
People have been suffering from lax work safety standards for decades in Turkey, where workplace accidents are nearly a daily occurrence. İSİG reported nearly 2,000 work-related deaths in 2023.
According to the group, more than 30,000 occupational accidents have taken place since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in November 2002.
İSİG General Coordinator Murat Çakır had earlier said the reason for the record number of fatalities in work-related accidents has to do with the policies of the AKP, which he said aim to turn Turkey into a source of cheap labor for Europe.
According to Çakır, workers feel obliged to work under unsafe conditions fearing that they will become jobless and unable to support their families.
İSİG began to record occupational fatalities in 2011. The platform also records the number of workers who died due to the lack of work safety in past years in addition to campaigning for stricter measures to maintain safety in workplaces.
A yearly report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on labor rights reveals that Turkey is one of the 10 worst countries in the world for working people. According to the Brussels-based ITUC, workers’ freedoms and rights continued to be relentlessly denied with police crackdowns on protests in Turkey in 2022.
