154 workers, five of them child workers, killed on the job in December

The Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG) has released the December data of its monthly report on work-related accidents.

According to the report, at least 154 workers lost their lives in work-related accidents in December. The number of workers who died while working in 2023 is recorded as at least 1929. The data for 2022 indicated 1843 workers killed on the job.

İSİG shared information that in January 115, February 261, March 130, April 123, May 147, June 160, July 184, August 206, September 153, October 151, November 145, and December 154 workers lost their lives.

In December, five of those who died were child/young workers between the ages of 15-17. In the age group of 18-29, 26 workers died, while in the age group of 30-49, 71 workers lost their lives. Additionally, 43 workers between the ages of 50-64 and three workers aged 65 and above were also killed on the job. İSİG could not determine the age of six workers.

"Children of poor families are being employed as cheap labor"

İSİG made the following note regarding the deaths of young/child workers:

16-year-old Syrian worker Abdullah El Hamuud was stabbed 11 times by his employer, Ismail Mustafa Akkı, during an argument at the vegetable market where he worked in Adıyaman...

17-year-old Ömer Çakar, a 10th-grade student at Şehit Abdulvahap Çokur Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, was interning as an air conditioner technician in Diyarbakır Kayapınar under the MESEM program when he fell from the second floor while installing an air conditioner...

15-year-old Ömer Girgin, working as an apprentice at an auto body paint workshop in Kocaeli Körfez, caught fire due to the explosion of thinner spilled while igniting a stove...

17-year-old Ulaş Dumlu, a senior student in the Electrical-Electronics Department at ERMES Science and Technology College, fell from an electrical pole into a purification (settling) pool while trying to fix a malfunction at Bahri Dağdaş Sugar Factory in Konya Ereğli...

17-year-old motorcycle courier Mustafa Koç collided with a car while delivering an order in Kocaeli Körfez...

This is the mission assigned to Turkey in the international division of labor. Most often, the children of poor families are employed as cheap labor in workplaces, sometimes even facilitated by the state without any supervision.

Highest number of deaths occur in construction sector

In December, the distribution of occupational accidents according to sectors is as follows:

• Construction, road sector: 44
• Transportation sector: 18
• Agriculture, forestry sector: 17 (12 workers and 5 farmers)
• Trade, office, education, cinema sector: 14
• Metal sector: 13
• Accommodation, entertainment sector: 13
• Municipality, general works sector: 8
• Mining sector: 4
• Food, sugar sector: 3
• Textile, leather sector: 2
• Banking, finance, insurance sector: 2
• Cement, soil, glass sector: 2
• Ship, shipyard, marine, port sector: 2
• Petrochemical, rubber sector: 1
• Wood, paper sector: 1
• Press, journalism sector: 1
• Energy sector: 1
• Health, social services sector: 1 worker
• The sector where 7 workers worked could not be determined.

Causes

The distribution of the causes of work-related deaths for this month is as follows

• Crushed, trapped: 34
• Traffic accidents, shuttle accidents: 33
• Falling from a height: 30
• Heart attack, stroke: 17
• Explosion, burning: 7
• Suicide: 7
• Electric shock: 6
• Struck by or against an object, falling object: 3
• Poisoning, drowning: 3
• Violence: 3 workers
• Other reasons: 11 workers

İSİG will publish the yearly report for workers killed on the job covering 2023 in the following days. 

(HA/PE)