At Least 155 Workers Lose Their Lives in January

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According to the January report of the Laborers' Health and Occupational Safety (İSİG) Assembly, at least 155 workers lost their lives across Turkey in the first month of 2019. The assembly previously announced that 1,923 workers died in occupational homicides throughout 2018.

In this month's report, the İSİG Assembly has referred to heating and housing/ accommodation as the most important problems facing the workers and leading to their death. The report has shown that 15 workers lost their lives in January because they were burned/ poisoned to death while they were trying to get warm in their workplaces or dormitories.

Referring to an incident from the year 2012, when 11 workers living in a tent lost their lives in a fire that erupted in the construction of a shopping mall in Esenyurt, İstanbul, as well as another incident where 4 workers died in a container in Ümraniye, the report has further stated:

"The common cause of all these deaths is bad housing/ accommodation conditions and the related problems with the heating and electricity systems."

11 women workers died in January

The following information has been shared in the report:

* While 135 of the 155 deceased workers were wage earners (workers and civil servants), the other workers were working on their own behalf.

* 11 of the workers who lost their lives in January were women and 10 of them were children. Three of the deceased children workers were under 14.

* The occupational homicides of women took place in the fields of agriculture, textile, trade, education and organized industry.

Most common cause of death: Poisoning/suffocation

* While no workers died of occupational diseases in January 2019, the majority of the deaths occurred in the sectors of agriculture, construction, transportation, ship/shipyard, municipality/general affairs, metal, textile, wood, energy and security.

* The most common causes of death were poisoning/ suffocation, being crushed/debris, traffic accident, heart attack and falling from a high place.

Only 3 deceased workers were unionized

* The majority of occupational homicides took place in İstanbul, İzmir, Ankara, Aydın, Şanlıurfa, Samsun, Antalya, Bursa, Kocaeli and Tekirdağ.

* While three of the deceased workers were members of a union, the remaining 152 workers (98.07 percent) were not union members. The unionized workers were working in the sectors of metal and municipality.

Names of the workers who lost their lives in January 2019:

Metin Özçevik, Abdul Şükür Türkmen, Türkmen Damar, Erdal Akbaş, Emin Karaçam, İsmail Sönmez, Dahil Bolat, Hakan Güneş, Cuma Çiftçi, Yakup Yıldız, Leyla Kurtboğan, Tamer Kokaroğlu, Barno Radjapova, Muhammed El Muhammed, Abdullah Rahicuha, Muhammed Emin, Mahmud Emin, Juma El Emin, Şakir Bal, Hasan Çetin, Zeynep Y., Muzaffer Sefercik, Zinnur Tomay, İdris Karadayı, Nurettin Güzel, Kadir Erdoğan, Fahri Koç, Nesrin Demirtaş Bilgin, Mazhar Semih Başkan, Ceren Damar Şenel, Vedat Zenderlioğlu, İbrahim Halil Oruç, Bülent Çölek, Mustafa Yanardağ, Serkan Aydınoğlu, Yaşar Çakıcı, Sait Korucu, Selçuk Çelebi, Aziz Yıldız, Abdul Khabir Haıdarı, Emre Adıyaman, Murat Yürekli, Serhat Saçma, Mevlana Kaplan, Abdulhamid Animem (Ahmed Alkhalel), Murat Yerkel, Zakir Çetinkaya, Yusuf Özkök, Musa Altun, İsmail ., Orhan Yaşa, İsmail Tüneyli, Necmullah Penceri (Nesmullah Pencer), Muhammet Şahin İmam, Nevzat Yağlu, Bünyamin Akat, Ökkeş Sürmeli, Emrullah Ersoy, Ali Gültekin, Emrullah Demir, Ali Selvi, Oğuzhan Demirhan, Mehmet Genç, Sedat Yeşilköy, Yaşar Cesur, Yüksel Şahan, M.G., Ruhi Topçu, Cihan Kızılkaya, Muzaffer Kalafat, Mojtaba Taghı Zadeh Hamzyan Olya, Tolga Açıcı, Faruk Çabuk, Turan Çiftçi, Mustafa Hasanoğlu, M.D., İsmet Özalp, Muhammed Arslan, Hayri Kör, Abdullah Dizman, Muharrem Bayburtlu, Semih Çalışkan, Murat A., Mehmet Karaca, Muhammed Ali Yılmaz, Mehmet Tütüncü, Semih Solak, Sinan Karabulut, Erdoğan Çetinok, Yüce Karanki, Ahmet Gürdağ, Tayfun Dirik, Sinan Elik, Kamil Arkan Özyurt, Ebubekir Topbaş, Gençağa Korkmaz, İbrahimov Mammadali, Bodnik Ruslan, Vyazovsky Rostyslav, Krepets Dmytro, Ovdiienko Volodymyr, İsmyilov Turbat, Valery Cerkezov, Ahmetcan Yiğit, İsmail Cem Temel, Abdulkadir Mutlu, Alp Aslan Veizoğlu, Cavit Uçar, İsmail Kartal, Yusuf T., Şenol Ertem, Halil İbrahim Çolak, İbrahim Yardım, Ali Yaşar, Devrim Bayram Demir, Mustafa Tahkika, İbrahim Atalay, Mahsum Cebe, Ayhan Güven Turan, Nihat Alakara, Ömer Bayır, Atilla Balandi, Yasin Balandi, Emircan Tunç, Ramazan Uysal, Murat Tekinci, Fethi Akkurt, Hatice Sonar, Aysel Sonar, Altan Karaağaçlı, Mert Kaner, Bayram Akçay, Elmas Sakıt, Hüseyin Alkan, Saib Erdoğan, Hamit Çitçi, Sezai Karaca, Ali Çelikdemir, Gökhan Özkan, Ayvaz Özkan, Eyüp Aydın, Berivan Karakeçili, Ahmet Çiftçi, İsmail Demirbaş, Özcan Kırem, Birgül Gündüz, Mehmet Çelik, Nadir Özer, Murat Yağcı, Mehmet Tanrıverdi, Osman Pollaz, Mustafa Aydoğan, İsmail Güden, Doğan Karadeniz and one unidentified worker. (TP/SD)