‘At least 111 workers died in occupational homicides in January’

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The Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG) has released its January 2022 report on occupational homicides in Turkey.

According to the latest monthly report prepared based on the news reported in the national and local press and the information shared by workers' colleagues and families, occupational safety specialists, workplace physicians, professional organizations and labor unions, at least 111 workers lost their lives as a result of occupational homicides in January.

100 deceased workers were wage earners (workers and civil servants) and 11 were self-employed (farmers and shopkeepers). While 11 workers were women, 100 were men. The occupational homicides of women happened in trade, metal, transportation, health, accomodation and general affairs. A child in the accommodation sector was also among the deceased.

According to the report, the highest number of occupational homicides occurred in the sectors of construction/ road, metal, trade/ bureau/ education, transportation, healthcare, municipal/ general affairs, accomodation, agriculture/ forestry, mining, chemistry, textile, energy and security.

Two migrant/ refugee workers also lost their lives in occupational homicides last month. While one deceased refugee was from Afghanistan, the other was from Pakistan. Of the workers who lost their lives in January, six workers (5.4 percent) were members of a labor union.

The most frequent causes of death were traffic/ shuttle accidents, COVID-19, being crushed/ trapped, falling from a high place, suicide, heart attack, violence, electric shock and being hit by (a falling) object.

The deaths of motorcycle couriers were among the occupational homicides that happened every week.

28 of the deceased workers were at or over the age of 51. They were shopkeepers and workers in the sectors of agriculture, food, mining, textile, education, bureau, metal, construction, transportation, healthcare and security. The deaths by age groups were as follows:

15-17 age group - 1 workers,
18-27 age group - 15 workers,
28-50 age group - 59 workers,
51-64 age group - 20 workers,
65 and over age group - 8 workers,
Unknown age group - 8 workers.

The highest number of deaths occurred in İstanbul: 

14 occupational homicides in İstanbul; 12 in Kocaeli; eight in İzmir; seven in Denizli; six in Bursa; four in Ankara, Kayseri and Muğla; three in Antalya, Aydın, Çorum, Mersin and Sakarya; two in Adana, Batman, Çanakkale, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Karabük, Konya, Manisa and Urfa; and one in Adıyaman, Aksaray, Ardahan, Bolu, Antep, Hakkari, Hatay, Maraş, Kırıkkale, Kırşehir, Kütahya, Malatya, Mardin, Siirt, Trabzon, Uşak and Yalova.

One worker who went to Northern Cyprus and one worker sent to China were also among the workers who died in occupational homicides.

The names of deceased workers:

Gökhan Yıldırım, Fuat Avşar, Hacı Recep Ekin, Ahmet Kuyucu, Ömer Ö., Cemil Varol, Halim Kılınç, Yakup Yaşar, Ferdi Yılmaz, Abdullah Kiraz, Emrah Akbaş, Mehmet Nezir Demir, Hasan Taplaktepe, İbrahim Halil Kay, Muhammet Sait Datlı, Abdurrahman Hamurlu, Süleyman Baş, Sabri Sarıboğa, Ahmet Çöl, Ferit Kavas, Mustafa Kaya, Mehmet Kartal, Aydın İleri, Ertuğrul Yazıcı, Süleyman Ekici, Sinan Tutak, Özgür Pehlivan, Mesut Belhan, Göksenil Feyza Çanoğlu, Cem Dindar, Mustafa Pakmak, Engin Dağdelen, Şadi Yıldız, Mahmut Eser, Erol Korkmaz, Hakan Çimen, Arif Akça, Mehmet Çelik, Hamdullah Taner Okumuş, Ramazan Öğütcü, Faruk ., İsmail Bilara, Bahtiyar Özkan, Dursun Ali Aksu, Adalet S., Yusuf Çevik, Kadir Yaşar, Hüseyin Hamzaoğlu, Hüseyin Bıçkı, Ahmet Çolaker, Habib Sözen, Birol Doğan, Mehmet Karayiğit, Cemal Eker, Kayhan Kaplan, Feyyaz Çalış, K.K., Cengiz İnan, Semir Yasav, Şükrücan Bayraktaroğlu, Hacı Mehmet Şenlenmiş, İhsan Ön, Kader Küçükkol, Neslihan Kesim Lermi, Vedat Doğan, Namık Batay, Erol Çevik, Mehmet Algül, Fethi Ahmet Balkaya, Mukadder Balkın, Nizamettin Kaplan, Sakıp Kılınç, Erkan Öntürk, Selçuk Elibol, Recep Kaya, Saadet Aksoy, Rahmi Köksal, Ali Kurt, Zehra Öztürk, Şahin Salman, Beyza Nur Babacan, Sezai Kılkıl, Ömür Erez, Nuray Sevim, Yeliz Günay, Abdullah Ceylan, Umair Ahmad, Necati Yasin Batır, Edanur Demir, Fırat Diri, Zafer Maral, Ünsal İ., Ahmet Yaşar Demirağ, Kerim Karbeyaz, Aydın Çakar, Ali Şahin, Salih Şentürk, Ari Şen, Sinan Üçek, İsmail Kaya, Sinan Amil, Aydın Doğru, Yunus Akşit, Necip Uçar, Murat Özcan, Yusuf Kırtay, Murat Güçlü, Abdulgani Aykut, Halil Korkmaz, İbrahim Kaynar and one worker whose name could not be learned. (RT/SD)