14 Workers Lose Their Lives Due to Coronavirus in March

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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"We have to use our right to avoid working during the outbreak to live and keep alive," the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG Assembly) has said and released its March 2020 report with the public.

The report has documented that at least 113 workers lost their lives last month. 14 of these workers died of coronavirus.

Emphasizing the need to support the requests of labor organizations and all workers in this process, the İSİG Assembly has said:

"We consider the COVID-19 disease that all active workers, especially healthcare laborers, including the ones working from home, will have after being infected with the SARS-Cov-2 virus to be a deadly and infectious occupational disease and the ensuing deaths to be occupational homicides.

"In the current situation, production must be halted in all workplaces, except for the ones in sectors where it is crucial to continue production for public health, and workers must be granted paid-administrative leaves until the critical phase of the outbreak is over."

Within this context, the organization has underlined that "based on the current conditions in the workplaces, there is a need to take the steps according to legal procedures or organize de facto strike processes.

Two children lost their lives

According to the İSİG Report, 80 percent of which is prepared based on the news reported by the national press and 20 percent based on the accounts of local press, colleagues and families of workers, occupational safety specialists, occupational physicians and unions, at least 113 workers lost their lives in occupational homicides in March 2020.

Other details from the report are as follows:

* At least 14 workers lost their lives due to COVID-19. There might be more losses of life caused by the virus, but, it is very difficult to track for now.

* While 100 workers were wage earners (workers and civil servants), 13 workers were working on their own behalf (farmers and shop owners).

* Considered by gender, 11 of the deceased workers were women while the remaining 102 were men. Women workers lost their lives while working in the sectors of agriculture, food, bureau, metal, energy and healthcare.

* Two child worker lost their lives. The occupational homicides of children took place in the sectors of agriculture and metal.

* 18 deceased laborers were aged 51 and over: Farmers, fishers and shopkeeper as well as workers in the sectors of food, bureau, construction, energy, transportation, accomodation, security and general affairs.

* Six immigrants/refugees also lost their lives in occupational homicides in March. While two of them were from Syria, one of them was from Afghanistan, one from Georgia, one from Uzbekistan and one from Russia.

* The highest number of occupational homicides took place in the sectors of agriculture, transportation, construction, metal, energy, trade/bureau, healthcare, municipal/general affairs, accomodation and health.

* The most frequent causes of death were traffic/service accidents, being crushed/trapped under debris, COVID-19, falling from a high place, heart attack, being poisoned/suffocated, severe electric shock and suicide.

Occupational homicides by provinces:

20 deaths in İstanbul, eight deaths in İzmir, six deaths in Kocaeli, five deaths in Adana and Antalya each, four deaths in Aydın, Bursa and Sakarya each, three deaths in Ağrı, Ankara, Malatya and Trabzon each, two deaths in Afyon, Hatay, Kastamonu, Manisa, Mardin, Samsun, Sivas, Şanlıurfa, Nevşehir, Tekirdağ, Zonguldak and Iraq each and one death in Adıyaman, Balıkesir, Bolu, Çanakkale, Çankırı, Diyarbakır, Erzincan, Gaziantep, Giresun, Kahramanmaraş, Kayseri, Kırıkkale, Kırşehir, Kilis, Kocaeli, Konya, Ordu, Şırnak, Tokat, Tunceli and France. (AÖ/SD)